Petition to Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose
26th November 2020
EDIT: As of Friday 18th December the petition stands at nearly 65k signatures. Watch this space for our next steps! Thanks to all who have supported us so far with this.
Did you know that Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose are members of Logistics UK, an organisation that has called the delay to 6 Clean Air Zones across the UK, including London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), a "policy achievement"?
The reason this is a bad thing should be clear. The ULEZ reduced roadside NOx emissions by 44% in its first year. Other cities - other children - could already be benefitting from similar Clean Air Zones. You can read the DeSmog investigation on this here.
In Bath, Cardiff, Leeds and Oxford, amongst others, Clean Air Zones have been delayed or altered due to Logistics UK's lobbying. We want to see supermarkets step up and put health over profit.
One of our members has set up a petition with Change.org, asking these supermarkets to stop lobbying to delay clean air. You can sign it here, and read why she set it up below:
Hi, I’m Amelia and I live with my family in South London. I developed asthma when I moved to London in 2015. As a new mum and doctor, I believe we need to protect our lungs from dirty air - which is why I’ve started this petition.
I recently read that Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose are members of an organisation, Logistics UK, that uses their funds and influence to force local councils to drop or delay Clean Air Zone plans. This is because Clean Air Zones will make it more expensive to keep their thousands of polluting lorries on the road. The idea that these supermarkets are knowingly contributing to delaying improvements in air quality makes me very angry, especially when all three champion their environmental policies openly.
Air pollution causes 3 million premature deaths globally every year. Exposure to air pollution in childhood, especially from traffic, is associated with an increased risk of developing childhood asthma and may exacerbate the effects of respiratory infections in young children. We can no longer ignore the health effects of air pollution – and therefore we must not let these supermarkets continue to stand in the way of measures that will clean up our air and give our children a better start in life.
I’ve set up this petition to get Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose (and others) to listen: I want them to give up their membership of Logistics UK, and stop indirectly contributing to prolonging the toxic air that our children are breathing.
