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Cleaner Air for Scotland - The Road to a Healthier Future (CAFS) is a national cross-government strategy that sets out how the Scottish Government and its partner organisations propose to further reduce air pollution to protect human health and fulfil Scotland’s legal responsibilities as soon as possible. The strategy aims to achieve the ambitious vision for Scotland "to have the best air quality in Europe".

The CAFS key partner organisations are:

  • Scottish Government
  • Transport Scotland
  • Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
  • Health Protection Scotland and health boards
  • Local authorities

Engagement and support from a wide range of stakeholders including representatives from the transport and planning sectors and NGOs is also vital to achieving the aims of CAFS.

Progress is supported by the CAFS Governance Group, and actions are managed by specific sub-groups and policy leads across partner organisations tasked with delivering actions on communication, placemaking, transport, health and climate change. A National Modelling Framework (NMF) and National Low Emission Framework (NLEF) will provide the tools and mechanisms to put in place measures that will improve air quality.

View the CAFS Organogram

National Modelling Framework (NMF)

The National Modelling Framework (NMF) provides a two-tiered standardised approach to modelling air quality in Scotland. This framework is supporting the development of LEZs.

Detailed models for the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee have provided evidence for taking direct actions at the city scale to reduce street-level emissions. The regional model will provide a tool for screening and assessing the potential air quality impacts associated with large-scale planned developments across local authority areas. The NMF will help with providing evidence for actions developed through the National Low Emission Framework.

National Low Emissions Framework (NLEF)

The National Low Emission Framework (NLEF) was developed to assist in the appraisal of air quality improvement options related to transport. Together with the National Modelling Framework, it provides guidance on the consistent assessment of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) across Scotland. The NLEF can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-low-emission-framework/.

The NLEF document is a commitment of the Cleaner Air for Scotland strategy (CAFS). The NLEF was finalised in line with the findings of the Building Scotland's Low Emission Zone Consultation and published in December 2018.

National Low Emission Framework appraisals of all Scottish Air Quality Management Areas have been undertaken with the results to be published in 2020 as part of the Local Air Quality Management reporting cycle.

Low Emission Zones

In September 2017, the Scottish Government in their Programme for Government, committed to the introduction of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) into Scotland’s four biggest cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee) by 2020 and into all other Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) by 2023 where the National Low Emissions Framework appraisal advocates such mitigation.  In October 2017, it was announced that an LEZ would be introduced in Glasgow in 2018.

The Scottish Government will work in partnership with local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships to introduce LEZs. Engagement with transport organisations, businesses and members of the public will help support the design of LEZs.

Clean Air For Scotland Workshop

Presentations from the CAFS workshop that was held on the 10th January are provide below:

Further Information

For further information on CAFS implementation please contact air.quality@gov.scot

Download the 2016 CAFS Annual Progress Report - published 15 June 2017

Meeting Minutes for Cleaner Air for Scotland Governance Group

Download the CAFS Governance Group minutes from the list below: