Reducing air pollution to World Health Organisation recommended levels would prevent more than 50,000 deaths a year across European cities, according to a new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. In the first such study of its kind, the paper, released on Wednesday (20 January), estimated the number of premature deaths due to fine particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in over 1000 cities across Europe, ranking cities from the highest to the lowest mortality burden due to air pollution. It concluded that reducing air pollution to below WHO recommended levels could prevent 51,213 premature deaths per year, while upping the ambition and reducing beyond recommended levels could prevent the deaths of more than twice that figure.