Details
The World Health Organisation and the UK Government recognise that air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health we face today.
Air pollution can cause and worsen health effects in all individuals, particularly society’s most vulnerable populations. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer, leading to reduced life expectancy. Short-term increases in levels of air pollution can also cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality. The annual mortality of human-made air pollution in the UK is roughly equivalent to between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year. In London alone, nearly 9,500 people die early each year due to long-term exposure.
It is estimated that between 2017 and 2025 the total cost to the NHS and social care system of air pollutants (fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide), for which there is more robust evidence for an association, will be £1.6 billion. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has approximated the annual cost to the UK economy at about £16 billion. More recently, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) reported this figure to be around £20 billion.
EMISSIONS & AIR QUALITY Smart Classes show key buyer side stakeholders how they can deploy the latest digital technology-enabled solutions, data-driven strategies, policies and best practices to improve urban air quality and drive down emissions and air pollution in our cities and regions.
Qualifying delegates include commissioning, procurement, trialling, partnering and policy leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers, environmental managers and planners from local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public and private transport operators/service providers; sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; freight and logistics operators; airports and port operators; vehicle manufacturers; energy providers; potential partners from industry (e.g. retail, construction, manufacturing and waste management sectors) and healthcare; DfT, Defra, EA, BEIS, DHSC, UKHSA and other and supporting national agencies; prime contractors; academia etc.
Core themes range from IoT smart emissions monitoring, hyperlocal air quality monitoring, indoor air quality innovation, air pollution forecasting models based on neural networks, air pollution abatement systems/technologies, and mapping and visualising air quality in real-time, to managing and enforcing clean air and low emission zones, machine learning techniques to analyse weather and emissions data, deploying telematics and geo-fencing technology, EVs and hydrogen buses, DRT and MaaS impacts, active travel impacts, innovative ways to clean polluted air, carbon capture and storage, and commercial sector initiatives such as emissions based parking tariffs and anti-pollution bus stops. We also explore planetary crises – e.g. climate change, pandemic, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste – as catalysts for change, accelerating the use of available solutions and motivating both behavioural change and investment in new innovation.
EMISSIONS & AIR QUALITY Smart Class 2024 takes place at Greencoat Place Conference Centre, London, on Wednesday 1st May. This will be our seventh EMISSIONS & AIR QUALITY Smart Class and follows on from previously acclaimed editions in London (2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019), Leeds (2022) and Birmingham (2019). Delegates will hear from industry movers, shapers and disruptors during initial rapid-fire thought leadership presentations, before moving on to in-depth consultations with experts and peers during the roundtable discussions. In addition, the Smart Class will feature up to 3 keynote presentations from major buyer side stakeholders giving real world insight into emissions and air quality policies and strategies, ongoing programmes and challenges, digital visions, collaborative initiatives, adoptions of emerging/transformative technologies and data driven outcomes. This half day in-person event is free to attend for bona fide delegates satisfying our registration criteria.
Previous Emissions & Air Quality Smart Classes have attracted senior delegates from stakeholders such as:
Previous presentations include:
Testimonials and feedback from our previous Emissions & Air Quality Smart Classes:
Head of Carbon and Air Quality Group, National Highways
“It was a real pleasure to join Smart Classes for the Emissions and Air Quality event yesterday to discuss net zero, emerging technology and some of the solutions for the construction sector. Thank you for a great event, interesting presentations and great networking opportunities”
Programme Manager, Centre for Low Emission Construction at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London
“Size of Smart Class was very welcoming – intimate and great for networking”
Sponsor, Transport for London
“It was an excellent session, and I enjoyed the roundtable discussions as well as meeting some of the other participants. Learning about National Highways’ strategy was really useful for making sure our future projects are relevant and most valuable to learn about asset management and how it’s connected to AQ”
Project Manager, Cross River Partnership
“The presentations were very informative and engaging roundtable discussions”
Senior Planner, London Borough of Islington
“Useful event and a good chance to be able to network and hear about what is happening elsewhere”
Project Manager – Air Quality, Hertfordshire County Council
“I enjoyed the presentations. Keynotes were good for our local plan and interesting use of sensors demonstrated during the roundtables”
Environmental Protection Team Leader, South Oxfordshire District Council
“Thanks for the invitations to the Smart Classes. They really help with keeping abreast of changes in the sustainability field and I always recommend them to colleagues. I always come away having learnt something new or discovering a new aspect of this area to investigate and follow up. I will definitely be attending further London classes”
Future Mobility Project Manager, Surrey County Council
“It was a really great event, thank you for hosting it so well!”
Sustainable Transport Planner, Hackney Council
“Excellent organisation. More relevant and useful than I expected”
Councillor, London Borough of Barnet
“It was probably your best one yet! Presentations provided real food for thought. Well targeted and very informative. Helped to provide a pathway to the future and roundtables included a good discussion around legislation”
Service Director – Transport, Highways and Waste, Herefordshire Council
“Good event. Hyperlocal air quality network especially interesting”
Air Quality Technical Officer, City of London Corporation
“Informative and targeted at the right level. Retrofitting and carbon reduction topics were of most interest”
Programme Manager – Carbon, Hertfordshire County Council
“Relevant to current projects. Excellent event”
Associate Director – Air Quality, WSP
“I felt slightly apprehensive going into London to attend my first in-person event for a long time. However, the experience could not have been better – inspiring, friendly speakers and delegates that made me want to get out and attend more events like this. I have returned to work with new energy and belief, with my passion for the area that I work in topped-up. The presentations ran smoothly and cohesively, and I learnt from every one of the roundtables. Thank you for the invite. I will be sure to attend future events and have encouraged colleagues to do so too”
Sustainable Mobility Officer, Hertfordshire County Council
“Just wanted to say thanks again for today. I really enjoyed the session and found the topics so interesting and useful. Hope to see you again soon”
Head of Air Quality, Environment & Technology, Transport for London
“A really engaging and enjoyable event with fantastic opportunity for roundtable discussion and networking”
Sustainable Transport Planner, London Borough of Hackney
“Interesting to hear about innovative solutions in London, and very informative and insightful to hear about DRT and integrating transport systems”
Public Health Project Officer, London Borough of Havering
“Really interesting presentations and case study examples. Roundtables were all so good!”
Clean Tech Project Manager, Westminster City Council
“Great event, thanks!”
Head of Desk Air Quality and Surface Transport – Government Relations, Transport for London
“It was a super event and a good opportunity for me and my team to present our new primary schools air quality website…once it’s being well used by schools we’ll have some good data and evaluation for behaviour change”
Principal Policy Officer – Climate & Environment, Canterbury City Council
“Really enjoyed this event and loved the opportunity to share Solent Transport’s progress on the Future Transport Zone”
Future Transport Zone Manager (Southampton City Council), Solent Transport
“I really enjoyed the event and thank you for the opportunity”
Sustainable Projects Lead (Air Quality Programme Lead) – Green City and Infrastructure, Southampton City Council
“It was a redefining moment for me. All of the sessions were valuable. Thanks for the invite and look forward to being part of the next Smart Class”
Transport Planner, West Sussex County Council
“Excellent organisation and brilliant speakers”
Senior Environmental Specialist, National Highways
“Something good in all of the presentations, all the roundtables had their highlights and speaking to German colleagues was fun and informative”
Lead Sponsor – Regional Programmes, Transport for London
“I enjoyed the Emissions & Air Quality Smart Class…a very good event format”
Managing Director, Thames Gateway Tramlink
“Absolutely brilliant event, really enjoyed the session”
Sector Lead – Smart (ER) Mobility, Stantec
“All of the presentations and roundtables were informative. How monitoring technology can make a difference to behavioural change was most valuable and demonstrating behavioural change impacts to pollutant reduction of particular interest”
Principal Air Quality Consultant, Cundall
“Fantastic event, very interesting presentations! Thank you for the opportunity”
Health & Wellbeing in Buildings Chairman, Building Engineering Services Association
“A great event! Thanks for putting on such a wide range of speakers for us”
Transport Consultant, Integrated Transport Planning
“It was a great event. I enjoyed a lot, learnt new things that I could apply to my role and hope to see you in the future”
Senior Transport Engineer, Dartford Borough Council/Area Manager (South East) – Highways and Transportation, Waterman Aspen
“Thank you for inviting us. We enjoyed the session and learnt a lot”
Research Associate, University of Cambridge – Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research
“A very good event, relevant to my work and all of the roundtables were valuable in different ways”
Smart Cities Project Manager and Clean Tech City Lead, Westminster City Council
“A thoroughly informative and enjoyable experience – will be recommending to colleagues! Found all presentations and application areas useful. Monitoring networks, lessons learned and high level policy of particular interest”
Principal Air Quality Consultant, Cundall
“Thank you for a very helpful and informative event. The Smart Class was perfect! Lovely number of people, expert presentations highlighted the importance of central support and data collection, and all of the roundtables were equally valuable”
Senior Transport Planning & Infrastructure Officer, Essex County Council
“HS2 presentation a great example of all that was discussed being put into actual practice, very well presented and a relevant interesting topic. The roundtables were informative, questioning the expert speakers further”
Air Quality Officer, City of London Corporation
“Camera enforcement options, green walls and Hammersmith & Fulham comparisons were of particular interest”
Environmental Health Enforcement Officer, LB Waltham Forest
“All of the presentations and roundtables were good. Most valuable to hear how the City of London is addressing Air Quality issues and to understand the hyper-local air quality deployment model”
Strategy and Partnerships Manager, Smart Cambridge Programme, Cambridgeshire County Council
“Many thanks for inviting me to the event which I found really informative”
Senior Environmental Advisor, Highways England
“All of the presentations and roundtables included good, interesting content. The Hammersmith & Fulham case study info was especially valuable. Also had a great chat about green walls!”
Sponsor Manager for Regional Programmes, Transport for London
“Very happy with my first Smart Class, fingers crossed I will be at another one in the next 3-6 months: very impressed!”
Principal Transport Planner, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
“A useful model for delivery – I like the focus on practitioners and sharing experience. All of the presentations were relevant and related to issues I am currently trying to address”
Head of Environment, Eastleigh Borough Council
“All in all an excellent event!”
Environmental Protection Team Leader, Warwick District Council
“Very informative and useful. Format perfect!”
Phase 1 Air Quality Lead, HS2
“All presentations were interesting as they showed ways to monitor and efficiently mitigate air pollutants. All of the roundtables were valuable too, speakers knew their subjects and responded to our questions well. This was a really interesting event and I found it beneficial as a LA officer and individual”
Scientific Officer, Environmental Health, LB Barnet
“I’m interested in local government interventions and what can be done by councils to drive and coordinate change. A stimulating event which increased my overview of the subject. Thank you”
Councillor, Royal Leamington Spa Town Council
“Excellent event, very well organised, good pace, great range of contributors and well balanced. Has given me a lot of opportunities to follow up!”
Head of New Products, Unipart Rail
“Lovely people and interesting discussions”
Environment Manager, CrossCountry Trains
“Good to receive information and advice from practitioners and experts in one place. All the presentations and roundtables were very interesting”
Connectivity Strategy Manager, Staffordshire County Council
“A great event to meet key thinkers in your field”
Research Technician Air Quality, University of Birmingham/WM-Air Project
“Good to meet you yesterday. I enjoyed the meeting and made some useful links”
Professor of Atmospheric Science/Head of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham and WM-Air Project Lead
“All the roundtables were useful and all of the presentations were interesting too”
Sustainability Officer, LB Camden
“Smart Classes are doing a fantastic job of bringing together experts and those interested in ‘Smart’ solutions. Thanks for yet another great event, I really enjoyed the sessions! Smart Classes offer a great opportunity to stay up to date with the latest technologies and concepts in the infrastructure arena”
Partner, London Climate Change Partnership; Chair, Thames Estuary Partnership; and Founder, Plan for Earth
“An interesting and informative morning. Thank you!”
Air Quality Officer, City of London Corporation
“Thank you for holding these classes. Very informative, great for networking and all of the roundtables added value”
Functional Excellence Engineer, Cummins
“All of the roundtables were good”
Strategy Director, Bus, National Express
“A really interesting morning”
Director of Policy Development, Confederation of Passenger Transport
“The presentations provided a good learning experience and overview into the activities conducted. Great insights into programmes and good conversations during the roundtables”
National Networks Programme Coordinator, Advanced Propulsion Centre UK
“An excellent and useful event”
Project Manager – Sustainable Energy & Air Quality, Leeds City Council
“A Friday well spent in Leeds at the Emissions & Air Quality Smart Class. Really informative keynotes from Leeds University, Leeds Beckett, Leeds City Council and HS2. Great discussions around the decarbonisation of transport, EV charging, eliminating diesel in construction, learning from our urban environment using living labs and how we can use hyperlocal data to improve air quality. Thanks to Smart Classes for organising”
Transport Development Analyst, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
“Great event – looking forward to the next one!”
Senior Project Engineer, Derbyshire County Council
“Thanks very much for inviting me and Daniel to the session on Friday. It was really well structured and informative! Great networking too!”
Senior Environmental Health Officer, Selby District Council
“Thank you, it was a great day!”
Environmental Health Technician, Selby District Council
“Met my expectations and all of the presentations were useful”
First Route Project Manager, Coventry Very Light Rail at Coventry City Council
“Very impressed! Interesting presentations, productive conversations and less of the ‘fluff’ of many events. Thanks for an engaging event on Friday – I really enjoyed the format and content and will certainly be recommending future events to colleagues”
Environmental Consultant, Mott MacDonald
“A pleasure to speak at Smart Classes’ Emissions & Air Quality North today on Living labs, collaboration and partnerships for the goals alongside Jim Parker. Some great keynotes and innovators to connect with and learn from, and hopefully some opportunities to work together soon!”
Sustainability Manager, University of Leeds
“Thank you very much. It was a fantastic meeting”
Research Officer, Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett University
“A great event in London today…Fantastic to be in the room again, seeing people face-to-face and safely!”
Managing Director & Co-founder, Vortex IoT (Innovation Sponsor)
“Excellent event today guys. I look forward to working with you again”
Managing Director & Co-founder, Vortex IoT (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great day and, as always, lively debate”
Managing Director, Imperial (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you Smart Classes!”
Chief Operating Officer, Hawa Dawa (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thanks for having me last Thursday, it was an interesting day with lots to learn. I also managed to use some of what I learnt in my presentation on Friday!”
Business Development Director, Scotscape (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you – a very helpful event”
Principal Urban Environment Consultant, ANS Global (Innovation Sponsor)
“Delighted to take part”
Brightly Software (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great event today, thank you”
Commercial Director, Vortex IoT, part of Marston Holdings (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you for bringing us all together today…and thanks to everyone for all the interesting insights. It really was a great event!”
International Business Development Manager, ioki – a DB company (Innovation Sponsor)
“It was a pleasure to meet you last week at our first Smart Class. We really enjoyed it and had some great discussions during the roundtable format”
International Sales & Business Development Manager, ioki – a DB company (Innovation Sponsor)
“Well worthwhile – thank you! Good connections made at all of the roundtables and great follow up agreed with a number of attendees”
Executive Chairman, Slingshot Simulations (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great experience speaking on Friday at the 2022 Emissions & Air Quality Smart Class North, discussing the role graph technology and digital twins can play in Leeds City’s target to reach net zero by 2030”
Application Engineer, Slingshot Simulations (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great event, thanks!”
COO, Slingshot Simulations (Innovation Sponsor)
“Happy clean air day! What better way to celebrate than a train up to Leeds to present at an emissions and air quality smart class tomorrow!”
Director of Environment, Marston Holdings (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great engagement in Leeds last month at EMISSIONS & AIR QUALITY Smart Class, North 2022”
Founder & CEO, ZiggyTec (Innovation Sponsor)
“Great event, great speakers, great networking, lots of examples of the co-benefits of aligning air quality and climate adaption projects”
Director of Environment at Marston Holdings & Head of Commercial at Vortex (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thanks so much, it was a great event! Really enjoyed. We’ll definitely be back”
Technical Presales Consultant, Vortex (Innovation Sponsor)
“Always a pleasure working with Mark and Harriet”
Senior Director for EMEA Client Services Centre, Brightly – a Siemens Company (Innovation Sponsor)
“Thank you so much for a fantastic session today. It was a great mix of people and you have struck an excellent balance with these classes. As a sponsor, it was great to engage with the audience on a peer to peer level and hold open discussions with everyone”
Managing Director, We Care 4 Air (Innovation Sponsor)
Speakers
“Tackling Air Pollution and Promoting Public Health” – Dr Christina Mitsakou is Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist in the Air Quality and Public Health Team (AQPH) at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Christina and AQPH work closely with government departments, such as Defra and Department for Transport, providing scientific evidence input that informs policy development.
In this keynote, she will highlight the health impacts of air pollution across the UK and explain how UKHSA is tackling air pollution through a Cleaner Air Programme organised around increasing the evidence base, influencing and supporting stakeholders, and improving awareness and understanding.
The scope of Christina’s presentation includes:
- Interventions for (the much underestimated) indoor as well as outdoor air quality
- Multi-agency partnerships such as the London Air Quality and Health Programme Office
- Key roles of innovation, data driven insights, collaboration, inclusiveness and behaviour change
- Recent initiatives such as the UK’s first targeted air quality alert for healthcare professionals
“Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Air Quality Public Engagement in Oxfordshire” – Teaming up to deliver this keynote in two parts are Oxfordshire County Council’s ZEV & Energy Integration Team Leader, Paul Gambrell and Oxford City Council’s Principal Air Quality Officer, Pedro Abreu:
- The councils in Oxfordshire have for several years now been involved in many projects to encourage the move to electrified vehicles. Paul will provide an overview of the work completed to date and the resulting impacts, and also outline “what’s next on our electrification journey”.
- Oxonair is an innovative air quality website, built in partnership with all local authorities in Oxfordshire. Pedro will explain how it has been designed in a simple and accessible way, with significant input from members of the public, to be used as an important public engagement tool to inform, communicate, and raise awareness of air pollution amongst visitors and residents across the County.
“Why Collaboration will be the Key to Cleaning up our Air” – Catherine Kenyon is Head of Clean Air Programmes at UK-based sustainability charity, Global Action Plan (GAP). She leads collaborations on air pollution programmes with the health sector, schools, local authorities, and community groups.
Catherine’s keynote will feature real-life case studies from across the UK, demonstrating how collaboration has been used to tackle air pollution. This includes the development of the Clean Air Hospital Framework with Great Ormond Street Hospital, and it’s subsequent scaling up to ICS level, utilising collaborations across primary and secondary care and local authorities to address the root causes of air pollution. Examples will be shared from the education sector on groundbreaking work with schools, businesses, and local authorities to not only improve air quality at the school gate, but to use the voice of young people to secure their rights internationally.
Finally, the presentation will introduce the Clean Air Day campaign, the UK’s largest national campaign on air pollution, and will outline why the need to collaborate and take action on air pollution has never been more important.
“Data for Action: Making our Air Visible” – Nick Ruxton-Boyle is an expert in transportation and the environment, and the Director of Environment at Marston Holdings and Vortex.
In this presentation, he will delve into the urgent challenge of air pollution and examine the current landscape of policies to tackle this critical issue.
Nick will highlight the power of harnessing localised air pollution data with innovative highway projects designed to enhance both air quality and road safety. By illuminating the unseen hazards to our health and environment, his presentation will reveal actionable opportunities for change fuelled by proven data-driven success stories.
“Understanding the Links Between Air Quality and Active Travel” – Alison Litherland is Sustrans’ London Head of Behaviour change. In this presentation she will outline how Sustrans is working with target groups to provide them with capability, opportunity and motivation to switch to low pollution transport modes:
“Road vehicles are the single biggest cause of London’s air pollution. They produce nearly half of all nitrogen oxides and PM10 found in London Air. Yet, few understand how through switching local journeys to active travel they can not only reduce the amount of air pollution they create but also the amount they are exposed to. Our projects in schools, workplaces and community settings demystify air quality data, enable clean air route planning, and break down barriers to active travel”.
“Beyond Air Quality Monitoring” – EMSOL are winners of the Construction News Innovation of the Year Award. They enable public and private companies – across construction, waste, healthcare, logistics, and retail – to pinpoint the sources of air and noise pollution on their sites.
Founder & CEO, Freddie Talberg will present the innovation “beyond averages and conventional air quality monitoring” and demonstrate how to target direct action to solve air pollution in our communities.
Agenda
- 8:30 am - 9:00 am Registration, Networking and Continental Breakfast
- 9:00 am - 9:30 am Introduction and Opening Keynote
- 9:30 am - 10:40 am Expert Innovator Presentations
- 10:40 am - 11:00 am Keynote Speaker 2
- 11:00 am - 12:40 pm Roundtable Discussions and Consultations
- 12:40 pm - 1:00 pm Keynote Speaker 3
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Close and Lunch Networking
