London ranks among worst European cities for air pollution Air
quality study judges UK capital to be 'below average' for its
lack of action on tackling deadly soot particles • Read the air
quality study here (PDF) London ranks as one of Europe's
unhealthiest major cities, having done little to tackle deadly
particles from diesel vehicles, according to a major air quality
study published on Wednesday. The home of the 2012 Olympics
ranks "below average" in a soot pollution league table by German
environment and consumer groups, coming behind Glasgow,
Copenhagen and Stockholm. Berlin is judged to have Europe's
cleanest air and only Düsseldorf, Milan and Rome are judged to
have worse air than London. The survey, which comes after Barack
Obama last Friday put off legislation to force US cities to
clean up air pollution, shows that bad air quality in Europe
causes nearly 500,000 premature deaths a year across all
countries, and costs up to €790bn a year to address. It supports
two major official air quality studies