It shows that air pollution kills 3,300 people every year – with vehicle emissions responsible for two-thirds of that, nearly 10 times the road death toll.
View this map to see which areas have the highest air pollution
The study shows that air pollution sends more than 13,000 people to hospital every year — costing the country more than $15 billion.
Shock in Southland
Invercargill topped the list of death rates for air pollution from vehicle exhaust, residential fires and industry combined.
It was followed by the city of Christchurch, then the districts of Waitaki, Timaru and Masterton.
Invercargill’s position shocked Nicol Horrell, chairman of Environment Southland.
He said it may need to rethink its air pollution strategy and get more help from government and health officials.
“It’s pretty amazing, pretty amazing actually and we need a coalition to try and get some interventions that can actually improve that.”
The city of Dunedin has the second highest death rate from traffic pollution, after Christchurch, and has the sixth deadliest rate overall.
Older people were among the most vulnerable to illness from poisonous gas.
Jo Millar, president of Otago Gray Power, said Dunedin was full of cars, causing people to choke on exhaust fumes.
“Honestly, I’m not going anywhere without a mask on right now and that’s purely because I’m pretty sure I’m not going to pick up any fumes from cars, traffic, whatever it is.
“And the trucks going back and forth are incredible.”
She said the city’s bus network was way too slow, meaning most people used their cars to get around.
“No one uses the buses here, they all travel back and forth in cars.”
Invercargill City recorded 219 premature deaths per 100,000 people aged 30 and older from air pollution in 2016, while Christchurch had 206 deaths per 100,000 people.
Impact on hospital admissions
For the first time, the study was able to measure the health effects of nitrogen dioxide, a poisonous gas from gasoline and diesel engines.
Scientists were surprised to discover the massive impact — a tripling of Aotearoa’s hospitalization statistics for air pollution.
Not surprisingly, cities had the worst death rates from traffic exhaust.
Christchurch topped the numbers, followed by Dunedin, Napier, Nelson and Invercargill.
Residents of Christchurch were almost three times more likely to die prematurely from air pollution than those living in Wellington City – which was way down the list.
Tauranga, Hastings, Hamilton, Auckland, Whanganui and Horowhenua also had high death rates from vehicle pollution.
dr. Ian Longley, an air quality scientist, said those living near busy roads were hardest hit.
“If [you] live in a quiet residential street, there is some traffic in the area, but if you live next to a major road the level will be double.
“Especially if you live near roads with a lot of traffic congestion or with many clusters of tall buildings.”
Greater urgency for a cleaner fleet
Associate Environment Minister Phil Twyford said the government has introduced policies such as the clean car standard and discounts to electrify its fleet, and the findings of the survey gave that even more urgency.
But it also raised some thorny questions about managing other plans to reduce emissions — such as steps to build along transportation corridors in cities to reduce residents’ carbon footprints.
“Access to clean air should also be part of that thinking, I think.
“And I think that’s going to be part of the mix of things that we look at as we set good urban design standards for the new system.”
Project leader Dr. Gerda Kuschel said small reductions in pollution can make a big difference.
“Any little bit you can do to improve it, like even improving concentrations by 5 percent, can make a huge difference to the health burden of air pollution, so there’s hope.”
The study used data from 2016 and car ownership has increased since then.