The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. While it will continue to meet, the Committee has agreed it will not consider petitions submitted after 10 October. This is to ensure all petitions currently in the system can be considered before the next Scottish Parliament election. It is also unlikely that the Committee would be able to schedule and meaningfully progress petitions submitted after 10 October before the election. Contact the Committee team at petitions.committee@parliament.scot for more information about the petitions process.

If you are seeking emergency action or an urgent policy change please contact one of your 8 MSPs or the Scottish Government directly

Closed petition PE2123: Update air quality standards in Scotland to align with 2021 World Health Organisation guidelines.

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Air Quality Standards (Scotland) Regulations 2010 by setting new limit values for nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter which align with the World Health Organisation air quality guidelines published in 2021.

Background information

The Scottish Government’s vision is for Scotland to have the best air quality in Europe. Progress has been made to meet the legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with 2022 being the first year, excluding lockdown years, Scotland has not breached the limits. Local authority reports in 2023 showed all automatic monitoring sites recorded NO2 and PM2.5 under the limits of 40 µg/m3 and 10 µg/m3 – the legal limits enacted in the Air Quality Standards (Scotland) Regulations 2010, based on the 2005 World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines.

In 2021, WHO produced updated air quality guidelines, which halved the previously recommended limits. Using the 2023 local authority annual reports, Asthma + Lung UK Scotland found that only 60 of the 85 automatic monitoring sites would meet the new 2021 guidelines for NO2 and 35 of the 82 monitoring sites would meet the guidelines for PM2.5.

  • Created by Gareth Brown on behalf of Asthma + Lung UK Scotland
  • Date closed 16 September 2025

This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament

Find out about the decisions taken on this petition

406 signatures