Air

Introduction

This section provides an assessment of air quality, the impacts of air pollution on human health, the sources and emissions of air pollutants, and amenity. The following indicators are assessed:

• A1: Compliance with air quality standards
• A2: Health impacts of air pollution
• A3: Emissions of major air pollutants
• A4: Amenity

For background information on air quality in the ACT see Background: Air quality. 

The air quality impacts caused by the 2019–20 bushfire season are also discussed in 4. Bushfires in the ACT.

For the emissions of greenhouse gases see section Climate change – Indicator CC3: Greenhouse gas emissions.

Key findings

Key actions

That the ACT Government: 

Indicator assessments

Data summaries

2019–20 bushfire season

• The 2019–20 bushfires in NSW and the ACT severely impacted Canberra’s air quality. Pollution levels exceeded the national standards for health on 56 days, including 42 days with air pollution above the hazardous to health rating.
• On 1 January 2020, particulate matter (PM_2.5) pollution was around 25 times higher than hazardous levels.
• The 2019–20 bushfires meant that the levels of many air pollutants were extremely high and exceeded National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (AAQ NEPM) standards in 2019 and 2020. This included 48 daily PM_2.5 exceedances, 45 daily PM₁₀ exceedances, six ozone exceedances, three carbon monoxide exceedances (the first since air quality monitoring began in the ACT) and two nitrogen dioxide exceedances, also the first time since monitoring began.

Air quality (excluding impacts from the 2019–20 bushfires)

Particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in size (PM_2.5)

• PM_2.5 is the most serious air quality issue for the ACT. Periods of elevated PM_2.5 levels are likely to have health implications for sensitive community members even on days which do not exceed the daily AAQ NEPM standard.
• The majority of the ACT’s PM_2.5 pollution comes from wood heater smoke in cooler months. This pollution can enter residences through the movement of external air into homes.
• The replacement of wood heaters with energy-efficient electric heating is critical to improve air quality in the ACT, particularly in the Tuggeranong Valley.
• The time of increased daily PM_2.5 levels from wood heater use means that the community can be exposed to high PM_2.5 levels during many outdoor activities such as commuting to and from work, commuting to school in the morning, evening sports training and evening activities such as exercising and dog walking. Exposure to wood smoke is dependent on topography, weather (wind speed and direction), and how many wood heaters are operating in a particular area.
• From 2015 to 2022, there were 67 exceedances of the daily standard for PM_2.5 at the Monash and Florey Stations, 36 of these occurred over the reporting period (2019 to 2022).
• For non-bushfire pollution, wood heaters were responsible for 48 (72%) of daily exceedances from 2015 to 2022, 11 (16%) were caused by controlled burns, and eight (12%) caused by dust storms.
• PM_2.5 pollution is far more likely in the Tuggeranong Valley. The Monash station in Tuggeranong accounted for 51 of the 67 exceedances of the daily PM_2.5 standard from 2015 to 2022, with exceedances occurring in every year except for 2022. Wood heater smoke was responsible for nearly 80% of the exceedances at Monash Station.
• There are far fewer exceedances of the daily PM_2.5 standard at the Florey Station, with 16 occurring from 2015 to 2022. Wood heater smoke was responsible for eight (50%) of these.
• 2020 had the highest number of daily PM_2.5 exceedances from 2015 to 2022, with 13 at Monash and six at Florey. All but one of the exceedances were caused by wood heater smoke. PM_2.5 exceedances in 2020 may have been affected by increased wood heater use due to people spending more time at home during the 2020 COVID-19 restrictions and working from home arrangements.
• The 2020 daily PM_2.5 exceedances, combined with air pollution from bushfire smoke, make 2020 one of the worst years on record for Canberra’s air quality.
• Annual average PM_2.5 levels for the Monash Station were between approximately 85% and 96% of the standard from 2015 to 2021. This means that PM_2.5 levels are closer to exceeding the annual standard than for other monitored pollutants.

Other air pollutants

• Excluding exceptional events (bushfires and dust storms), there were no exceedances of AAQ NEPM standards for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter less than 10 micrometres in size (PM10) from 2015 to 2022.
• There was only one exceedance for ozone levels in January 2019 caused by hot weather increasing the conversion of vehicle emissions to ozone.
• Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of smoke and dust impacts on air quality, and increased ozone formation.

Health impacts of air pollution

• The Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment was unable to obtain data on the impacts of air pollution on human health in the ACT nor the associated costs to the health system and the economy.
• There is some data available on the impacts of the 2019–20 bushfires with smoke causing an estimated 31 excess deaths in the ACT and 318 hospital admissions for health conditions.
• Current expert and research consensus suggests that air pollution, even at concentrations that meet current air quality standards, is associated with adverse health effects.
• In recognition of health impact evidence, national standards are moving towards the position that there is no safe concentration for sensitive people, especially for particles (PM₁₀, PM_2.5).
• Any reduction in air pollution will result in health benefits, even where pollutant concentrations are within the air quality standards.

Emissions of air pollutants

• With the exception of a recent ACT Health study on PM_2.5, data on the sources and emissions of diffuse source air pollution has not been updated since 1999, therefore, it is not possible to assess changes in air pollution emissions over the reporting period.
• Diffuse sources of air pollutants such as from transport and wood heaters are known to be the main contributors to air pollution in the ACT.
• For the period January 2017 to September 2018, ACT Health estimated that around 50% of the total PM_2.5 pollution came from wood heaters, bushfires, and planned burns, 21% was from coal-fired power stations (outside of the ACT) and local industry, and 14% was from motor vehicles.
• Wood heaters are the main source of PM_2.5 from smoke and are estimated to account for up to 75% of total PM_2.5 in cooler months. Whereas coal-fired power stations and local industry are estimated to account for nearly 80% of PM_2.5 in hot months.
• Motor vehicle emissions are estimated to account up to 20% of PM_2.5 with emissions higher in colder months due to fuel combustion being less efficient.
• The monitoring and reporting of point source emissions is required under the National Environment Protection National Pollutant Inventory Measure (NPI NEPM). The ACT’s monitoring and reporting activities complied with the NPI NEPM during the reporting period (up to and including 2022–23).

Amenity

• Between 2018 and 2022, 14,388 complaints were received by the EPA regarding environmental conditions.
• Noise was responsible for 80% (11,500) of the total complaints and is clearly a significant concern in the ACT.
• Air pollution was responsible for 13% (1,853) of the total complaints. Smoke concerns (wood heaters and controlled burns) accounted for 68% of the total air pollution complaints between 2015 and 2022.

Management of air quality in the ACT

Context

Contributors to poor air quality in the ACT include domestic emissions (wood heater smoke, small engines), industry, transport, bushfires and hazard reduction burns. Human activities which impact air quality more broadly are climate change, intensified urbanisation (including reduction in urban vegetation), and increased transport and energy demands from a growing population.

Following the 2019–20 summer, when the ACT and surrounding areas were subject to extended periods of unprecedented smoke pollution from bushfires, the complex relationship between the health, environment, social and economic impacts of poor air quality became impossible to ignore in Canberra, with many residents unable to avoid the smoke even inside their homes. This experience of the impacts of acute air pollution has informed the development of a number of policy approaches during this reporting period.

Policy Framework

The Environment Protection Act 1997 is the primary piece of ACT legislation concerned with air pollution. The Environment Protection Regulation 2005 made under this Act puts into practice the regulation of polluting activities. Part 2 of the Regulation refers to emissions into the air, identifying causes of environmental harm and offenses for the following:

• chimney emissions
• open air fires
• burning, fires and firewood
• solid fuel-burning equipment
• air-filtration plants
• balloons, and
• pollutants emitted from motor vehicles.

The Air Environment Protection Policy is also prepared in accordance with the Environment Protection Act 1997. It provides information relating to the management of ambient air quality and pollutant emissions to the atmosphere in the ACT. The objective of this policy is to ensure that air quality in the ACT at least meets national standards for ambient air and to minimise environmental harm from local emissions of air pollutants.

This document provides details on and references to the relevant policies and/or guidelines for:

• ambient air quality
• emission of air pollutants
• industrial including commercial activities
• transportation activities, domestic
• social, rural and open space management activities, and
• environmental management instruments.

Policy and regulation under the Environment Protection Act 1997 is enforced by the EPA.

The community’s experience of the impacts of acute air pollution during the 2019–20 bushfires has informed the development of a number of policy approaches during this reporting period. The Bushfire Smoke and Air Quality Strategy 2021–2025 was developed following the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires. It seeks to reduce air pollution from bushfires and other polluting activities through synergistically addressing these related issues across four phases of bushfire management:

Generally, there is an antagonistic relationship between bushfire management and air quality, and care needs to be taken to balance the benefits from fire risk reductions with calculable harm to population health. Planned hazard reduction burns will unavoidably conflict with air quality outcomes at some times.

In addition to policies in the environment sphere, several transport policies and plans have been in play during this reporting cycle. They include the Act Transport Strategy 2020, the Zero-Emission Transition Plan for Transport Canberra, and the Transition to Zero Emissions Vehicles Action Plan 2018–21. While their goals and actions focus mainly on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in ACT, increasing the use of low- or no-emissions vehicles will also have benefits for air quality as particulates and other by-products of combustion engines will be reduced.

The Public Health Act 1997 aims to protect the public from public health risks, to provide the public with information about the health of the population, and to design and implement appropriate policies and programs for the maintenance and improvement of the population’s health. This Act includes only one mention of air quality in a general requirement for any person to notify of “any substance or matter that the person has reasonable grounds for believing to constitute a significant public health hazard” and that this may be in “water or air or elsewhere in the environment”. In terms of public health, the World Health Organisation identifies that “air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risk to health”. As such, a greater emphasis on air quality in the Public Health Act 1997 might be expected.

Management gaps

The simplest and most direct performance indicator of the effectiveness of air policies in the ACT is the measured level of air quality relative to the applicable air quality standards and criteria. In the ACT, this is provided by the Air Quality Index, which allows a like-for-like comparison between all air pollutants to be made.

The air quality in the ACT does not meet criteria for PM_2.5, one of the most harmful air pollutants for human health. Based on available data, the suite of policies applied to manage wood heater emissions is presently failing to achieve air quality at the levels required to protect community health. The ACT Government’s commitment in 2023 to phase out wood heaters by 2045 should over time address this pollution source.

As described above, there is no available data relating to the impacts of pollution on human health other than for bushfires. Further investment in air quality monitoring infrastructure would assist in filling this knowledge gap. This should in turn enable more targeted interventions to reduce particulate pollution. In general, fuller engagement by ACT Health in this space would strengthen the capacity of the ACT Government to proactively protect its citizens from the effects of poor air quality.

The ACT Environment Protection Regulation 2005, Division 2.2 Chimney emissions, refers to repealed “National guidelines for the control of emission of air pollutants from new stationary sources, 1985”, which is available only in hard copy in the national archives. It stipulates limits that are tens of times higher than would be considered acceptable for new plant in the remainder of Australia and most comparable international jurisdictions. The air emissions standards set out in the ACT Environment Protection Regulation 2005 require updating to contemporary levels.

While the Bushfire Smoke and Air Quality Strategy 2021–2025 addresses air pollution from bushfires and wood heaters, there is no consideration of air pollution from other sources such as dust from land clearing and construction, and pollution from internal combustion engine vehicles. The ACT does have strategies and guidelines in place to manage pollution from these sources (the Environment Protection Guidelines for Construction and Land Development in the ACT and the ACT’s Zero Emissions Vehicles Strategy 2022–30 respectively) and it would be beneficial to integrate these into a holistic framework for air quality monitoring, reporting and management for the ACT.

The ACT Government has implemented a range of practical, fiscal and policy measures to improve transport effects on air quality. These include preferential pricing of vehicle charges to favour electric vehicles, investment in an electric vehicle fleet for ACT Government, and improvements to the cycling, bus and light rail networks. There appears to be scope for the ACT’s air quality strategy to consider further measures to specifically target air pollution from any new petrol and diesel vehicles, given the long fleet life cycle.