Assessing How Road Traffic Emissions in London Have Changed Over the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had radically changed mobility patterns across cities and continued to evolve as efforts to manage the post pandemic recovery. As cities went into lockdown, they reported historic decreases in air pollution levels. However, little research has explored in detail how road traffic emissions have changed over the pandemic in London. This study implements a series of GWR (geographically weighted regression) models to assess detailed spatial changes in NOX, CO
2
, PM
2.5
and PM
10
vehicle emissions. Additionally, it also explores the impact of sustainable mobility policies and schemes rolled out over the pandemic with respect to vehicle emissions. Results show that while the spatial profile of emissions has shifted, the overall distribution of emissions is not too dissimilar to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, for the most part, roads with sustainable mobility schemes situated on them do not exhibit statically significant decreases in emission levels with respect to pre-pandemic levels.