ANTICIPATE: Actively anticipating the unintended consequences on air quality of future public policies

Website:www.anticipate.ac.uk

Twitter: @air_ANTICIPATE

Led by: Professor Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey

Project partners: University of Surrey, University College London, University of Birmingham, University of York, National Centre for Atmospheric Science

UK public policies can have significant environmental, economic, social and political consequences over both near and distant timescales, but the full range of impacts are not always thoroughly considered at the appraisal stage. ANTICIPATE will improve awareness of the positive and negative consequences outside the core areas of intended impact, working on four policies selected from the UK Industrial Strategy, Clean Growth Strategy, 25 Year Environment Plan and the NHS Long Term Plan. Expert workshops will explore the policy proposals and their potential impacts on air quality in depth, identifying previously unremarked or under-emphasised implications. An evaluation of the effectiveness of this process will be used to develop recommendations about how to identify the unanticipated consequences of future public policies at the design stage, and thus contribute to more robust and resilient policy making.