ClientEarth lawyer amongst National Air Quality Award 2016 winners

ClientEarth and Transport for Greater Manchester were among those recognised at the National Air Quality Awards 2016 yesterday (10 November). Awards were also presented to Dearman and Transport for West Midlands.

(l-r): Steve Eminton, David Ives from Greater Manchester Transport and Donna Lyndsay of EarthSense

The awards, organised by AirQualityNews.com in partnership with Mercedes-Benz & Fuso, were held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster yesterday (10 November).

The audience first heard from London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Shirley Rodrigues, who spoke about the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan’s, air quality ambitions and the work that is needed nationally (see AirQualityNews.com story).

Then, AirQualityNews.com editor Steve Eminton took to the stage to run through the finalists.

(l-r): Steve Eminton, Laura Gilmore from Dearman and Ross Paterson of Mercedes Benz and Fuso Trucks

The first prize for Local Authority Air Quality Initiative of the Year was announced by Donna Lyndsay of EarthSense, who revealed that Transport for Greater Manchester had won with its Clean Air for Schools Programme. Sponsored by EarthSense, the award recognised the body’s work on exhaust emissions from Greater Manchester’s school bus fleet, with a main aim of reducing the exposure of schoolchildren to air pollutants by reducing vehicle emissions around schools.

(l-r): Steve Eminton, Vic Duddy from National Express West Midlands, Steven Hayes and Celine Cluzel from Transport for West Midlands and Andrew Chen from Heathrow

Next up, the Innovation in Air Quality Technology award went to Dearman for its Driving Clean Cold — zero emission transport refrigeration system.  The trophy was presented by Ross Paterson of Mercedes Benz and Fuso Trucks, who sponsored the category. The Dearman Engine is believed to be unique in producing power through the expansion of liquid nitrogen. This means no emissions of NOx or particulates, and a substantially lower CO2 footprint.

The West Midlands Combined Authority was awarded the Passenger Transport Air Quality Award, sponsored by Heathrow and presented by Andrew Chen. The authority was recognised for its West Midlands Low Emission Bus Delivery Plan, which helped route low emission buses to better address the region’s significant air quality problems.

Air Quality Champion

Finally, with the last category of the afternoon— Air Quality Champion of the Year — being the only award dedicated to a single person, presenter Mr Eminton thanked all of the entrants for their contribution to air quality.

(l-r): Steve Eminton, Alan Andrews from ClientEarth and Paul Oxford from Calor

Paul Oxford of award sponsor Calor revealed that it was ClientEarth’s environmental lawyer Alan Andrews who was victorious as the 2016 Champion. This was for his contribution to air quality through his work at the organisation which describes itself as ‘activist lawyers committed to securing a healthy planet’.

Once a city lawyer, Alan is now an environmental expert and has become one of the most respected and well known spokespersons on air quality, following his work in the two recent court cases against the UK government over levels of air pollution (see AirQualityNews.com story).

The full list of finalists for the National Air Quality Awards 2016 was:

Local Authority & Public Sector Air Quality Initiative 2016, sponsored by EarthSense

• Barts Health NHS Trust and Global Action Plan — Cleaner Air for East London
• Clean Air for Schools Programme, Transport for Greater Manchester
• Cross River Partnership, London Clean Air Better Business
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Glasgow City of Science and Young Scot

Award for Innovation in Air Quality Technology, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz & Fuso

• ABS Comtech — Add Me engine treatment
• Bibby Distribution — milk collection fleet
• Dearman, Driving Clean Cold — zero emission transport refrigeration system
• Emissions Analytics, Equa Index

Passenger Transport Air Quality Initiative, sponsored by Heathrow

• Addison Lee, Geo Ring Fence
• Transport for Greater Manchester, clean air for schools programme
• West Midlands Combined Authority, Low Emission bus delivery plan

Air Quality Champion 2016, sponsored by Calor Gas

• Alan Andrews, Clean air lawyer, ClientEarth
• John Glover, Managing director, Bywaters
• Matthew Linnecar & Sam Clarke, Co-founders of Gnewt Cargo
• Stephen Wilkinson, Head of risk and compliance, Addison Lee.