What the government is doing to address the air pollution problem | Letter from Michael Gove MP, environment secretary

Michael Gove, the enviroment secretary, responds to a Guardian editorial on his clean air strategy

You write that "the main contributor to the air quality crisis " is road transport" (Editorial, 23 May). Road transport contributes 34% of nitrogen dioxide emissions and 12% of particulate matter emissions. The majority of air pollution comes from other sources. In particular, domestic burning contributes 38% of primary particulate matter - the most damaging pollutant to human health, according to the World Health Organisation.

You write that our clean air strategy "purported to tackle a public health crisis by getting families to open their windows more often because 'air pollution inside the home can often be higher than outside'." Those 11 words are taken from almost 40,000 in the document, which sets out action on domestic fuel, farming, ports, aviation and in other areas.

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