As the new school term begins, recent research from E.ON reveals 85% of primary school aged children and eight in ten parents (81%) worry about air pollution.
Image Credit: E.ON
Fortunately, the vast majority (94%) of children who were questioned as part of the survey, are keen to help reduce air pollution, with looking after the planet (64%) and keeping friends and family safe (49%) some of the top reasons for wanting to combat dirty air.
With eight in ten (81%) children believing they have the power to change the world, E.ON is helping children to combat air pollution through its new Air Heroes initiative, which unveils children’s capes that help to destroy dirty air as children walk to school.
E.ON has collaborated with fashion brand Scamp & Dude, a purpose-led brand with a huge heart and famous for its vibrant designs, to create the limited-edition ‘E.ON x Scamp & Dude Air Heroes capes’.
The capes use a technical fabric which has the ability to absorb and breakdown harmful particles present in the air, helping to destroy air pollution caused by cars and create cleaner air as the children walk to school. The capes are inspired by retro superheroes and Scamp & Dude’s superpower infused animal prints and are adorned with its signature lightning bolt ‘Superpower Button’, making children feel empowered while they are wearing them.
Michael Lewis, E.ON UK CEO, said: “Air pollution in our communities is something that we can’t always detect, but we know that children are exposed to it on a daily basis, whether that be on their journey to and from school or running around the playground. From our research, it’s clear that this is something parents and children are actively worrying about, so it’s hugely important that we do something to help reduce this and clear the air.
“The Air Heroes capes are a fun, engaging way to encourage children and their parents to think about the serious impact we have on our environment on a daily basis, and we hope we can continue to educate and encourage people to make changes to their daily routine, even if it’s small changes, such as walking to school one day each week.”
Jo Tutchener-Sharp, Founder of Scamp & Dude, said: “At Scamp & Dude, our mission is to fill people with superpowers. With many children worrying about air pollution, it seemed like a perfect fit to create an exclusive design that would not only look great, but help to make a genuine difference. The E.ON x Scamp & Dude Air Heroes capes bring together our signature print with a magic ingredient – the technical fabric – to supercharge children across the nation.”
E.ON’s research also revealed that almost a third of parents (29%) admit to driving their children to school despite it being less than 30 minutes away. Yet eight in ten (82%) say they would change their routine and school run habits if they saw the improvement it would make to their family’s health.
Parents have become more aware of the dangers of dirty air on their family’s health, however almost half (42%) feel they lack an understanding of what they can do to help.
E.ON’s Air Heroes cape competition
E.ON is offering children across the country the opportunity to win one of the limited-edition capes, with the winners receiving a cape for themselves and their entire class, ensuring together they can help to destroy the dirty air around their school.
- To enter the competition and for more about how E.ON is helping to clear the air through smarter energy solutions visit eonenergy.com/air-heroes.
E.ON is committed to being carbon neutral by 2040 and both E.ON and E.ON Next provide 100% renewables-backed electricity as standard to all customers’ homes.
E.ON also offers a range of energy efficient solutions, such as smart meters, energy efficient boilers and solar and battery technology which can all help people better manage their home energy use, and even generate their own.