Nineteen times this year, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide has exceeded the EU limit of 200 micrograms per cubic meter as an hourly mean. London failed annual European Union limits on air pollution just eight days into 2016, data from the capital’s main air quality monitor show. Nineteen times this year, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide on Putney High Street in Wandsworth, west London, has exceeded the EU limit of 200 micrograms per cubic meter as an hourly mean, according to provisional data on King’s College London’s Air Quality Network website . That compares with an annual limit of 18 “exceedances” set by the EU. London has breached EU rules on on nitrogen dioxide pollution every year since 2010, posing a health risk to the city’s more than 8.5 million inhabitants. It puts the U.K. at risk of incurring hundreds of millions of pounds in annual European Union fines. […]