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The original was posted on /r/upliftingnews by /u/_fastcompany on 2026-08-19 16:08:09+00:00.
In London, an Ultra Low Emission Zone requires vehicles to meet strict emissions standards or else pay a daily fee for driving through that area.
It’s an initiative that has reduced toxic air pollution levels and spurred drivers to adopt cleaner vehicles.
And now it’s even been linked to improved lung growth in the city’s children.
Before the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), London children had stunted lung growth, a 2018 study found.
When exposed to air pollution, like the emissions from traffic, their lungs were smaller than they should have been—putting them at risk of asthma attacks, lung diseases, and even early death as they become adults.
But now, after five years of the ULEZ, those children’s lungs have improved, according to a major five-year study recently published in the Lancet Public Health journal.
It’s a result that Chris Griffiths, a professor at Queen Mary University of London and University of Oxford as well as lead investigator on the study, calls “astonishing.”