The first section of London’s Ulez scheme was launched in 2019 in the central part of the city. The zone was expanded across inner London boroughs in 2021 and enlarged again to cover the whole of the capital in August 2023.
Under the rules, the most polluting cars must normally pay a £12.50 charge each day they are driven inside the Ulez zone. A small minority of cars on the road are affected, with most petrol cars under 19 years old and diesel cars under nine years old exempt. The latest figures show 97% of vehicles in the capital are now compliant and do not pay anything.
About 4,000 premature deaths a year in London were previously attributed to air pollution. Studies show that toxic air affects every organ in the body and increases the risk of developing a wide range of health problems, from asthma to lung cancer, heart disease to strokes, cognitive development in children to dementia.
Several outer London councils mounted unsuccessful legal challenges to the Ulez rollout, and Keir Starmer blamed it for Labour’s defeat in the Ruislip and Uxbridge byelection and called for Khan to “reflect” on his plans.
But Friday’s report, published by the Greater London Authority with findings extensively reviewed by an independent advisory group of experts, said Ulez had had a positive impact and that London’s air quality had improved across the board and at a faster rate than that of the rest of the country.
Friday’s report also found:
- Roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, a toxic gas that exacerbates asthma, impedes lung development and raises the risk of lung cancer, have decreased by 27% across London since Ulez was introduced in 2019.
- Small-particle emissions (PM2.5) from vehicle exhausts were 31% lower in outer London in 2024 than they would have been had Ulez not been expanded in 2023.
- Air quality has improved at 99% of monitoring sites across London since 2019.