Global Clean Air

New EDF study shows unequal burden from truck-related pollution near warehouses

By Aileen Nowlan / Published: May 12, 2023

New research from EDF–Making the Invisible Visible: Shining a Light on Warehouse Truck Air Pollution—shows some 15 million people live within a half-mile of a warehouse in 10 states across the United States. The research demonstrates how the burden from truck-related air pollution exposure is not evenly distributed. In all of the states studied, warehouses and the trucks they attract are disproportionately located in Black, Latino, Asian or American Indian communities as well as areas of low wealth.

The boom in just-in-time delivery has resulted in a rise in warehouse-related truck traffic.

While warehouses and the trucks that deliver their goods became more common after the deregulation of the trucking industry, the explosion of just-in-time production and next-day delivery has brought more of these facilities much closer to people’s homes and in more communities than ever before. Understanding who is bearing the brunt of the health burdens associated with warehouse activity can help policymakers, businesses and communities implement smart, targeted policies to reduce emissions and protect health, keep kids in school and improve workforce productivity.

How we did it: Our teams identified warehouse location data and analyzed it through the lens of our Proximity Mapping framework that allowed us to learn demographic information about the people living near them.

Why it matters: More than 1 million children under 5 live within a half-mile of warehouses, making them more vulnerable to adverse health impacts like asthma. Their families are more vulnerable to adverse birth outcomes, dementia, heart disease and stroke, , because of the pollution from the trucks that serve warehouses.

The good news: Low-cost solutions are available today to reduce the pollution burden on these communities. Increased air quality monitoring and zero-emissions goods transport are all tools we can tap into now to reduce harm from truck pollution.

Meanwhile companies are investing in zero-emission delivery vans, yard trucks and even long-haul vehicles. States can help advance this trend through policies such as the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which eases permitting requirements for charging infrastructure. The EPA’s recently proposed tailpipe regulations are designed to ensure that half of up to half of new urban delivery freight vehicles sold by 2032 will be zero-emitting. Indirect Source Review rules are a tool for state and local leaders to ensure warehouses don’t burden their neighbors.

But we can’t let up. Communities deserve to know what kinds of businesses are operating near their homes and schools, especially if they attract vehicles that are harmful to their health. We must demand greater transparency around warehouse locations and the extent of pollution generated at warehouses. Transparency around health costs and the cost of clean up is essential for fairness to those already impacted by warehouses, while alerting communities facing warehouse expansion to the threats posed by their new neighbors.

Also posted in Community Organizer, Concerned Citizen, Government Official/Policymaker, Homepage / Comments are closed

Investigating air pollution inequity at the neighborhood scale

By Maria Harris / Published: November 16, 2022

Air pollution in the United States has declined dramatically over the last several decades, thanks to strong, protective clean air policies. And yet, unjust disparities in pollution exposure remain, with people of color in the United States burdened by higher levels of health-harming pollution than white people, regardless of income.

One cause of these pollution inequities is the historic legacy of disinvestment in communities of color through racist policies like redlining, along with discriminatory siting of highways and polluting industrial facilities. This results in health disparities and higher vulnerability to the health impacts of air pollution for people who live, work and play in close proximity to its sources.

Neighborhood-scale air quality data can provide a clearer picture of air pollution’s impacts

Air quality is often evaluated at the city or county scale, but pollution levels vary at a much finer scale, as do the demographics of neighborhoods shaped by residential segregation.

Variability in pollution and demographics across census tracts and blocks in Minneapolis compared to the full extent of Hennepin County, MN.

New legislation recently introduced to Congress would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to advance development of hyperlocal air quality monitoring systems that will provide better, more localized data on pollution hotspots and inequity in pollution exposure. Importantly, the bill calls for monitoring “at a geographic scale that is (i) as small as practicable to identify communities; and (ii) not larger than that of a census tract.”

Why is this issue of geographic scale so important? The scale at which data is collected and analyzed can have major impacts on our understanding of pollution disparities. New research from EDF and partners explored whether it is possible to accurately estimate disparities in exposure to air pollution using larger scale data (for example, county averages) or whether finer scale data (census tract or smaller) is needed.

We found that for two important health-harming pollutants, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), using state and county scale data led to substantial underestimates in US-wide racial/ethnic exposure disparities compared to those based on finer scale data—on average, using country vs. tract data would underestimate national exposure disparities by 20%.

Within individual cities, while census tract scale data was often adequate to characterize disparities, it was sometimes necessary to use even finer data – as small as a city block— to capture the full magnitude of inequity across neighborhoods.

This research adds further evidence to support what environmental justice advocates have long been telling policymakers: in order to identify the people and communities most exposed to harmful pollution, we need data and analysis at the scale of individual neighborhoods.

Data can direct funding to communities with the greatest need

Air pollution can vary across communities–even from block to block–and more data is needed to understand where air pollution comes from, who it’s impacting and who’s responsible for it. This is critical to reduce disparities in pollution exposures throughout the U.S.

EPA’s recent announcement of $53m in new funding for community-level air quality monitoring is a powerful step in support of the Justice40 Initiative, a federal commitment calling for our nation’s most overburdened communities to be prioritized for investment and reductions in pollution. Continued advancements in hyperlocal monitoring and analytical methods will help accurately identify those places, track progress and hold our institutions accountable for eliminating inequities in exposure to health-harming pollution.

Also posted in Environmental Justice, Health, Homepage, Monitoring, Science, USA / Comments are closed

EDF joins global organizations calling on UNFCCC to strengthen action on short-lived climate pollutants to achieve climate goals

By Sergio Sanchez / Published: November 4, 2022

This blog is co-authored by Sergio Sanchez, Global Clean Air Policy Director and Julia Gohlke, Lead Senior Scientist, Climate & Health

Environmental Defense Fund supports the World Health Organization (WHO), The World Bank Group, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, which have appealed to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Parties to expand the scope of pollutants under consideration and the methodology for Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) assessment, and to strengthen the focus on sector approaches to climate action.”

WHO issued an October 31, 2022 policy brief about SLCPs (black carbon, methane,. tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons), along with a group of other major international development organizations. The policy brief urges UNFCCC delegates gathering at COP 27 (November 6-18) to strengthen ambition, improve data reporting and encourage integrated health assessments of air pollution in each country’s nationally determined contribution (NDC). Furthermore, it calls for the full incorporation of SLCPs as an explicit agenda item under the UNFCCC.

Credit: Climate & Clean Air Coalition

Fast action to reduce SLCPs will result in quick benefits for climate change and for human health. SLCPs have historically not been comprehensively included in country emissions inventories and NDC mitigation pledges. Some countries, such as Mexico, have included SLCPs in their NDC, pledging to reduce black carbon by 51% by 2030. Through recognition of the immediate health gains realized with SLCP reductions, climate action ambitions can be strengthened at COP27.

Also posted in Climate, Government Official/Policymaker, Health, Homepage, Partners, Science / Comments are closed

Stronger national fine particle air pollution standards will provide significant health benefits and reduce disparities

By Ananya Roy / Published: June 22, 2022

This blog is co-authored by Taylor Bacon, Analyst, US Clean Air and Climate; Maria Harris, Senior Scientist; and Mindi DePaola, Program Manager, Office of the Chief Scientist.

A new EDF report finds that strengthening federal protections for fine particle air pollution (PM_2.5) to 8 µg/m³ will have large health benefits and reduce air pollution-related health disparities in Black, Hispanic and low-income communities across the United States. That’s because these communities bear the brunt of harm from the nation’s most pervasive and deadly air pollutant.

The report comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Biden, is reviewing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particle pollution (PM_2.5). The agency is expected to propose a new standard this summer.

Wide disparities in exposure and health effects of air pollution

The analysis by Industrial Economics, Inc. finds that in 2015, PM_2.5 resulted in 120,000 premature deaths and 75,000 respiratory emergency room visits. Children and older adults are particularly vulnerable.

Disparities in exposure and resulting health outcomes were substantial across the U.S.:

Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans had greater likelihood (84%, 58%, and 113% higher, respectively) than others of living in neighborhoods where air pollution levels were above 10 µg/m³.
Black Americans over age 65 were three times more likely to die from exposure to particulate matter than others.
People of color were six times more likely to visit the emergency room for air pollution-triggered childhood asthma than white people.

For decades, communities of color and low wealth have been targeted for environmental hazards that others did not want: power plants, landfills, shipping ports, freeways and factories. The resulting inequities in pollution exposure are further aggravated by longstanding discriminatory disinvestment, poor housing, limited health care, educational and economic opportunities perpetuating health disparities, intergenerational poverty and higher vulnerability to health impacts of air pollution.

The report shines a light on what communities exposed to particle pollution everyday already know: they’re surrounded by pollution sources that are harming their health and shortening lives.

EPA can set protective standards which will provide health benefits and reduce disparities

In 2020, the Trump administration retained the existing standard for PM_2.5 of 12 µg/m³, ignoring a large and growing body of scientific evidence indicating that this standard was not adequate to protect public health. Environmental and health groups petitioned EPA to reconsider this decision, and in the fall of 2021, EPA launched a review of the PM_2.5 standards. As part of this review, EPA took stock of the new science since the last review and considered the policy implications of this new research. In their policy assessment, EPA found strong evidence that the current annual standard of 12 µg/m³ does not adequately protect human health and considered alternate standards between 8 and 11 ug/m³. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), a panel of independent scientists convened to advise EPA, recommended a range of 8-10 µg/m³ for the annual standard.

EDF’s report builds on EPA’s analysis of racial and ethnic disparities in pollution exposure and health impacts under the current and alternative standards, and it supplements EPA’s policy assessment by addressing some of the suggestions made by CASAC for future reviews, including greater attention to risk disparities, expanding the geographic scope of the analysis and considering current PM_2.5 levels in estimating the benefit of alternative standards.

The report supports both EPA’s and CASAC’s conclusions that the current standard is not adequate to protect health and finds significantly larger benefits of an 8 μg/m³ annual standard over 10 μg/m³.

Nationally, a standard of 8 µg/m³ would have 3.5 times greater health benefits than a standard of 10 µg/m³ (16,000 premature deaths and 10,000 respiratory emergency room visits avoided at 8 µg/m³ vs. 4,600 premature deaths and 3,000 respiratory emergency room visits avoided at 10 µg/m³).
A standard of 8 µg/m³ would go further to reduce inequities in the health burden of air pollution than a standard of 10 µg/m³, particularly between Black and white populations. People experiencing poverty would see 30% higher benefits in terms of reduced mortality compared to higher income communities.

As seen in the figure above, even with strengthened standards, substantial disparities in the health impact of particulate pollution would persist. It is essential that EPA also takes complementary actions that directly tackle environmental injustice.

Fine scale data offers insights on disparities

In their policy analysis of alternative standards, EPA utilized regulatory monitor data and modeling at a scale of 12 km² to determine exposures to air pollution and benefits of alternate standards in 47 major metropolitan areas. However, outside of cities, there are few regulatory monitors and limited modeling to provide air quality information.

To better understand current PM_2.5 exposures and potential health benefits of a stronger pollution limit for every community, we utilized fine scale satellite, land use and emissions-based data that offer a clearer picture of air pollution. We found significant health impacts of PM_2.5 not reflected in EPA’s analysis of 47 metro areas: PM_2.5 causes an additional 83,000 premature deaths and 49,000 emergency room visits for respiratory diseases. Black people and people experiencing poverty bear a higher burden of air pollution health impacts with similar disparities in both urban and rural areas.

Nearly 40 percent of the lives saved from a stronger standard of 8µg/m³ are outside of the areas evaluated by EPA. Critically, our report finds that communities outside of EPA’s analysis would see limited annual benefits of an alternative standard of 10 µg/m³–420 lives saved–but significant benefits of a standard of 8µg/m³–5,800 lives saved.

The pollution data forming the basis of this analysis have been evaluated using monitoring data, and thus in areas where there is limited monitoring there is lower certainty in the levels estimated (like large areas outside of those evaluated by the EPA). This makes clear the implications of blind spots in air pollution monitoring. Our report indicates a substantial health burden of air pollution in these areas and large benefits from a strong standard of 8µg/m³. This can, however, only be validated and enforced by expansion of regulatory monitoring in these areas.

We have an opportunity to act now

EPA is expected to propose a new standard this summer and will take comments from the public at that time. It is imperative that the proposed standard reflects both EPA’s and the Biden administration’s commitment to environmental justice in that it adequately protects the people at greatest risk. This report shows that strengthening the National Annual Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM_2.5 from 12µg/m³ to 8µg/m³ would go the furthest towards reducing this disproportionate burden of air pollution and is a critical immediate step.

Editor’s note: This blog was updated on March 23, 2023 to reflect findings from an updated version of the original analysis.

Also posted in Academic, Environmental Justice, Government Official/Policymaker, Health, USA / Comments are closed

Houston may exceed national standards for harmful fine particulate matter, new monitoring shows

By Fern Uennatornwaranggoon / Published: May 4, 2022

Big Gaps in Air Monitoring

Air quality in the U.S. has improved tremendously over the last 50 years thanks to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, but not all neighborhoods have benefited from these improvements. The law mandated the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and to determine which areas of the country meet the standards and which do not, setting the foundation for air quality management in the U.S.

Air quality management agencies and EPA rely on data from regulatory monitoring networks that exist across the country. However, these monitoring networks are designed to give region-wide pollution averages, and monitors are often sparsely located. For the 25 largest U.S. urban areas with continuous regulatory monitoring, there are an average of only 2 to 5 monitors per million people. Some of these monitors are intentionally sited away from emissions sources to capture background pollution levels; the trade-off is that they can miss critical pollution hotspots, especially near major sources of pollution.

This is exactly what happens in Houston, TX. High levels of harmful particulate matter (PM_2.5) have for far too long gone undetected. One such area is the Settegast neighborhood, northeast of downtown Houston, where community members have long voiced concern about air pollution from a nearby railyard, concrete batch plants and metal recyclers. Finally, in 2019, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) recommended adding a PM_2.5 continuous monitor to the Settegast neighborhood at a site on North Wayside Drive to “improve population exposure coverage,” which EPA approved in the same year. At last, the monitor was deployed in May 2021.

Risk of Nonattainment in Houston

Since the deployment, the new monitor has consistently shown some of the highest PM_2.5 levels in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) region. The average PM_2.5 concentration over the past 11 months exceeds the current annual NAAQS threshold of 12µg/m³, threatening to push the region into nonattainment status for this pollutant. (Table below shows mean concentration = 12.3µg/m³ from May 3, 2021 to March 10, 2022)

Annual Average PM_2.5 Concentrations at Wayside, as of March 20, 2022. Source: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/24hr_annual.pl

The review process currently underway at EPA to reexamine the NAAQS for particulate matter is expected to result in stronger, more health-protective thresholds. It is expected that EPA will make the final ruling on PM NAAQS in Spring 2023, which will trigger a designation process for many areas of the country. A more health-protective standard will make it more difficult for the HGB region to remain in attainment unless actions are taken now to reduce emissions.

A nonattainment designation is costly for a region, both in terms of direct costs of pollution controls and the potential larger economic losses from lower business activities and lost investment opportunities. One analysis estimates that exposure to particle pollution in the nine-county metropolitan Houston area contributed to more than 5,000 premature deaths in 2015 and nearly $50 billion in economic damages.

In addition to the annual trend, the Wayside monitor also shows high short-term spikes in PM_2.5 concentrations. So far in 2022, the four peak days of PM_2.5 concentrations at this monitor are some of the highest in the HGB region, with peak 24-hour concentrations ranging from 22 to 27µg/m³. (See diagram below. Wayside measurements are shown in yellow dots.)

Four Highest 24-Hour PM_2.5 Concentrations in 2022 as of March 20, 2022. Source: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/pm25_24hr_4highest.pl

Where Is Pollution Coming From?

The Wayside monitor sits ~700ft east of the Union Pacific railyard. Traditionally, railyards and the associated locomotives and drayage truck activity are a major source of particulate matter. Other emission sources adjacent to the site include a metal recycler, a concrete batch plant and several nearby truck yards. Flanked between the railyard and North Wayside Drive is a community that includes a large apartment village, a retirement home, a high school and churches. This railyard is also known to have used creosote to preserve wooden ties, which created an underground contaminated plume that has drifted beneath people’s homes.

EDF and partners are developing a tool that would allow us to investigate the sources of emissions that are measured by regulatory monitors like the one on North Wayside. Early data shows high pollution readings that can be traced to multiple industrial locations in that area. Data also shows that on three of the four highest readings in 2022, the source area is to the west of the monitor around the UP railyard.

What Should We Do?

It behooves the region to come together now to address this issue before a nonattainment designation is made. EDF and others are reaching out to TCEQ, the Houston-Galveston Area Council, industry groups and community organizations to identify best-management practices that could be deployed to help reduce the elevated PM_2.5 emissions.

At the request of EDF and community groups, TCEQ now plans to install a speciation monitor at Wayside to better evaluate the sources on an ongoing basis. While a more thorough analysis is needed to reach any conclusions about potential sources, there are near-term actions that can be taken to protect communities’ health and to prevent Houston from exceeding the NAAQS threshold.

TCEQ should be requiring the railyard, local metal recycling and concrete plants to adopt best management practices. For instance, requiring anti-idling devices be installed on locomotives and upgrading to cleaner engines could significantly reduce emissions at the Union Pacific railyard.
Increasing anti-idling enforcement on main truck routes and around truck-attracting facilities can also lower truck emissions in the near-term.
TCEQ could also require industrial facilities such as metal recyclers to adopt best practices to minimize both primary and fugitive emissions, including adoption of abatement and control equipment.
There is a need and opportunity for broad adoption of zero-emission equipment which is readily available and affordable, as costs have come down significantly in the last few years.

EDF will continue to facilitate discussions among stakeholders on this issue and support efforts to minimize pollution and help position Houston to meet the current–and future–national air standard to protect people’s health.

Also posted in Concerned Citizen, Health, Houston, Monitoring, Science, Texas, USA / Comments are closed

Take Back Health In Your City: WHO’s Dr. Maria Neira’s argument for reducing emissions

By Sergio Sanchez / Published: October 25, 2021

When the World Health Organization (WHO) released its new Global Air Quality guidelines earlier this month for the first time since 2005, it cited an overwhelming body of evidence showing how air pollution severely impacts health at even lower concentrations than previously understood. And while concentrations still largely exceed levels published by the WHO in 2005 for several pollutants in many areas around the world, the organization has now set more aggressive targets along with a phased approach in the hopes it can encourage countries to redouble their efforts to abate air pollution for protecting public health.

The price of inaction is clear: The burden of disease from both ambient and household air pollution exposure continues to grow. Children’s health is largely impaired by reduced long growth and function, respiratory infections and aggravated asthma resulting from breathing poor air quality. In adults, major causes of premature death attributable to air pollution are heart disease and stroke, and there is emerging evidence of diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions, among other effects. Every year, exposure to air pollution causes some 7 million premature deaths and results in the loss of millions more healthy years of life.

In a recent conversation, Dr. Maria Neira, the WHO’s Director of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants, suggested that policymakers examine what they will gain from implementing stricter air quality standards, in addition to the consequences of inaction.

Dr. Maria Neira, World Health Organization

Health benefits of taking action

Dr. Neira argues that we should reframe our approach to focus on the multiple benefits of reducing pollution. “If the world stops burning fossil fuels, we will see an incredible benefit to public health,” Dr. Neira said. Not only could we prevent a significant percentage of chronic diseases, she says, “You could have more walking in the city. You could have more physical activity. You could take back your city.”

Dr. Neira, who wanted to be a physician since she was a child growing up in Spain, began her career as an endocrinologist, providing her a fist-hand look at the body’s feedback to endocrine disruptors like air pollution emissions. She later served as the medical director for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) in refugee camps in El Salvador and Honduras. That experience prompted her to work in public health. “I couldn’t accept the fact that I was treating patients and then sending them back into conditions that were causing diseases,” she says. “I realized I could make a bigger impact if I worked on sanitation problems or children breathing poor air.”

Slowing climate change, benefitting public health

Now, charged with the leading of the WHO prevention arm, Dr. Neira examines the multitude of factors that can influence health, including diet and the environment. She hopes that in addition to adopting stricter air quality standards, countries will begin to look more closely at the health benefits associated with combating climate change. She argues that the cost savings in health—from the reduction in chronic diseases to increased productivity—would outweigh the investments needed to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Showing that kind of positive outcome in a similar way that current models illustrate economic benefits, would be “the indicator we would dream about.”

While climate change and air pollution impact vulnerable populations more acutely, Dr. Neira notes that dirty air and its impacts are harmful across all sectors of society. “In Europe we have 400,000 deaths every year due to air pollution.” When you add the cost of related hospital visits and the loss of work days, the impacts represent an overall cost to society, she says. Cities known for higher levels of air pollution may even find themselves less attractive to businesses, if they cannot lure top talent to live with their families, she says, citing Shanghai as a prime example.

Following positive examples

Social distancing requirements for COVID-19 brought many cities like Bogota, Columbia to expand bicycling infrastructure.

Countries like Canada and those in Scandinavia are trending in the right direction because their clean air and climate policies, Dr. Neira says. She also noted that mayors with the political will to transform their cities with low emission, sustainable interventions are seeing positive results. Bogota, Colombia, and Bilbao, Spain, are examples of industrialized cities that are now becoming “a pleasure to see.” However, “national politicians need to go farther.”

Need for additional research

While the WHO cited a wealth of research in its decision to lower emissions standards, Dr. Neira says scientists still have plenty of areas for future study. “I think most of the research now needs to go to interventions,” she says. “And whether we can prove those interventions are impactful or not.” Measuring health gains from changing traffic patterns or agricultural practices could help determine which interventions countries adopt. Researchers should examine whether interventions are cost-effective, how soon their impacts can be measured and how beneficial they are to both the environment and human health. “We have to prioritize those that have the biggest public health impact in the shortest possible period of time,” she concluded.

Also posted in Climate, Government Official/Policymaker, Health / Comments are closed

New projects in European cities will trial clean air solutions for freight

By Felicia Douglas / Published: June 22, 2021

Ravenna, Italy

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people turned to home deliveries to safely meet their needs, furthering the rise in demand for parcels, and, consequently, an increase of vans and trucks on the roads. The freight sector is energy-intensive with last mile delivery relying largely on polluting diesel vehicles – creating air and noise pollution, congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.

Cities need innovative freight solutions now more than ever to protect public health, transform the sector and contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable urban logistics system.

That’s why Environmental Defense Fund Europe (EDF Europe) is excited to partner with POLIS – a leading network of European cities and regions promoting innovative transport solutions – on a new collaboration for zero-emission zones for freight.

The freight opportunity

The freight sector – which includes transport trucks, delivery and service vans, construction vehicles and dustbin lorries – is a major part of city economies. Freight transport is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. In the European Union (EU), trucks contribute 22% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from road transport, yet they only account for 2% of all vehicles on the road. Currently, vans are the fastest growing source of road transport emissions in the EU. Additionally, freight vehicles powered by fossil fuels also produce health-harming pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5).

There is huge potential to decarbonise the freight sector and improve the urban environment, and one pathway is zero-emission zones for freight. These zones only allow freight and delivery vehicles that are zero-emission (e.g., electric vans and cargo bikes) to enter – bringing benefits like lower congestion, safer roads, cleaner air and reduced carbon emissions.

The SURF project

Many European cities are beginning to incorporate freight into sustainable urban logistics plans, presenting an opportunity for EDF Europe and POLIS to support cities by providing guidance and tools to implement innovative transport measures.

The Sustainable Urban Freight (SURF) project aims to guide city planners, business leaders and other freight decision-makers in developing a strategy for sustainable freight transport. SURF is focused on the design and implementation of zero-emission zones for freight and employs a series of peer-to-peer learning activities, expert support and rapid studies or ‘Instant Projects’ with on-the-ground implementation.

Instant Projects

The Instant Projects are small-scale prototypes that will generate lessons to inform the wider urban freight community and create local, immediate impact. We are excited to announce the three successful applicants for the SURF Instant Projects:

Aarhus, Denmark: A port city with 280,000 residents

Project: Integrate urban freight transport in site-specific logistics plans in connection with large infrastructure projects near the central train station.

“The project will be a natural progression from the more strategic plans for transportation and logistics at a wide city level to a more operational plan for a specific geographic area where considerable challenges are faced. We hope that others will learn from our experience and work to transform cities in a way that allows for more sustainable logistics solutions,” – Louise Overvad Jensen, Engineer, Development Consultant

Karditsa, Greece: A flat, inland city with 40,000 residents

Project: Pilot deliveries for local businesses using e-cargo bikes with an emphasis on raising awareness and building partnerships.

“We are currently defining a strategy for decarbonising urban logistics throughout the city, so the SURF project arrives at the perfect time. Our local businesses are eager to promote sustainable mobility and cargo bikes present an excellent opportunity for expanding zero-emission deliveries,” – Natalia Tzellou, Head of the Department of Development Planning

Ravenna, Italy: A port city and regional capital with 160,000 residents

Project: Define a roadmap towards a zero-emission zone for freight and introduce a ‘Freight Quality Partnership’ as a permanent participatory process tool for stakeholder engagement.

“Ravenna is committed to making urban freight transport green, efficient and resilient. This project will allow us to work on zero-emission zones for freight focused in the city center and develop the potential to expand to the whole municipality.

This project will raise ambition and generate cascading effects that speed up the process towards decarbonisation and the vision of a more livable and accessible city,” – Nicola Scanferla, Manager, Senior Transport and Mobility

Tipping the scale

The total number of small and medium-sized cities in the EU far outweighs the number of large city centres. These cities can serve as an ideal ground for testing and implementing new transport strategies and services that are crucial for the most pressing mobility challenges. The three Instant Project cities, all small and medium-sized, will demonstrate solutions and pathways that other European towns and cities can replicate and scale up.

Many cities are rethinking how to move forward after the pandemic and create healthier communities. Reducing emissions and congestion from freight logistics is a critical pathway to a more sustainable transport system. The SURF project aims to advance clean air and climate goals through not only the Instant Projects but also by means of a Capacity Building Programme. The objective of this e-course is to raise awareness and equip policymakers, practitioners and operators with long-lasting capabilities to support the transition to zero-emission deliveries.

We look forward to sharing lessons, key results and tools from the Instant Projects later this year that will help other cities develop a roadmap to zero-emission freight and transform polluted urban roads, improve people’s health and protect the climate.

If you have experience in providing technical advisory support on urban freight, training or relevant studies, or you have a relevant project or study to showcase, please feel free to express your interest by means of this form to be considered for the capacity building e-course.

For a further introduction to the SURF project and to hear about what other European cities are doing to reduce the impacts of freight, you can watch the April 2021 webinar here.

Photo credit: Vivida Photo PC/shutterstock.com

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London’s major roads are putting children at risk of developing asthma

By Oliver Lord / Published: May 4, 2021

Greg Slater, Senior Data Analyst, and Oliver Lord, Head of Policy and Campaigns

The pollution and health impacts from London’s busiest roads – the Red Routes – go far beyond the streets themselves.

As a result of the nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) that comes solely from vehicle pollution on the Red Routes, our new analysis estimates 9% of the city’s children may be living in an area where they are at a significantly higher risk of developing asthma. The analysis shows the area of increased asthma risk from Red Route pollution is seven times the size of the roads themselves.

Londoners don’t have to live directly on the major roads to experience the increased risk from their pollution. The capital needs a new vision for the city’s most polluted roads, including a comprehensive traffic-reduction plan that reduces health inequities.

Transport pollution and asthma

Our previous analysis shows how the Red Routes have far higher levels of NO₂ pollution than the average thoroughfare.

To examine this in more detail and shed light on the health burden for local communities, we looked at a new modelled dataset produced by Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) as part of the Breathe London pilot project that isolates the vehicle NO₂ pollution from the Red Routes and shows where this pollution travels in the air.

In recent years, there has been building evidence of an association between exposure to traffic-related air pollution and the development of childhood asthma. In their review of research into this topic, Khreis et al (2017) found that the risk of new paediatric asthma cases increased by 5% with every 4 µg/m³ of NO₂ air pollution.

We applied these findings to the modelled dataset of Red Route pollution and found levels of 4 µg/m³ NO₂ and higher – just from the Red Routes – covers an area seven times bigger than that of the roads themselves. The map below displays in black where the Red Routes alone are adding at least 4 µg/m³ of extra NO₂ pollution, which could increase the risk of children developing asthma by at least 5%.

We estimate 9% of London children live in the area with at least 4 µg/m³ of extra NO₂ pollution from the Red Routes. Our estimates indicate these children have a significantly increased risk of developing asthma unless action is taken to reduce vehicle-related pollution on the Red Routes. This is in addition to existing asthma cases, which can be aggravated by elevated pollution levels. The map also shows levels of NO₂ at or greater than 2 µg/m³, which can carry health risks as well.

Zooming in to a more local level, the map below shows the north section of the Red Route Old Kent Road and the surrounding area. The colours demonstrate how the pollution spreads beyond the road boundaries, with dark grey representing at least 4 µg/m³ of NO₂ pollution from the Red Routes. Here we see the model suggests areas close to the road are all in dark grey. Residential areas much further away are also affected by Red Route pollution.

And that’s just a small slice of air pollution that London children are likely exposed to. We have looked at the Red Routes in isolation to demonstrate how pollution from major roads travels in the city. However, there are of course other roads and pollution sources, as well as air pollutants associated with traffic emissions like fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) that must also be accounted for a complete picture of the health impacts.

London needs action now to protect young lungs. The next Mayor of London should commit to a bold vision and urgent action plan to address the volume of vehicles on the Red Routes and to assess if the network is still fit for purpose.

Please see here for the methods behind this data analysis.

Further detail on the health impacts of the Red Routes can be found in our paper with Centric Lab, Rethinking London’s Red Routes: From red to green. You can also watch a relevant discussion here, which took place at a Centre for London webinar with health and transport experts.

Also posted in Health, London / Comments are closed

Better data is critical to address health disparities in air pollution’s impacts

By EDF Web Team / Published: March 31, 2021

Ananya Roy, Senior Health Scientist, and Maria Harris, Environmental Epidemiologist

The last several months have seen a wave of momentum in policies seeking toward advance environmental justice and equity through better data collection and mapping. In his first week in office, President Biden signed an executive order to initiate the development of a screening and mapping tool to identify disadvantaged communities with the goal of informing equitable decision making. And legislation introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate would launch a similar effort. This focus on data and mapping is critical.

Also posted in Environmental Justice, Government Official/Policymaker, Health, Homepage, Oakland, Partners, Science / Comments are closed

Pandemic exposes need for cities to improve air pollution data collection to protect public health

By Harold Rickenbacker / Published: July 15, 2020

Harold Rickenbacker, Ph.D., Manager, EDF+Business.

This is the fourth in a series of Global Clean Air blogs on COVID-19 and air pollution. EDF scientists and program experts share data about pollution levels during quarantine from a local and global perspective, and provide recommendations for governments and companies to Rebuild Better.

Los Angeles, California.

We’ve long known that air pollution is linked to health problems like heart disease and asthma, and that these risks are highest for the elderly and people with existing heart and lung diseases. Now, new evidence shows the same people who have lived with polluted air for decades are also at increased risk for severe illness from Coronavirus.

These findings are generating unprecedented urgency to clean the air we breathe and underscoring the importance for cities across the globe to make air pollution monitoring a priority in a post-pandemic world.

But as local leaders grapple with how to tackle air pollution and protect vulnerable communities, they’re faced with a big challenge: they lack the localized data needed to properly protect public health and reduce harmful emissions.

New, lower-cost sensor technology is allowing scientists, advocates and government officials to map air pollution at the hyperlocal level, which can reveal pollution patterns within neighborhoods and even individual city blocks.

Policymakers tasked with rebuilding healthier and more resilient communities in a post-pandemic world can use localized data to work more effectively with residents and stakeholders to implement powerful interventions that reduce air pollution in overburdened communities.

What better data can tell us

Everyone deserves to breathe clean air, but where you live determines how likely pollution is to worsen or shorten your life. And while most conventional monitoring systems can provide a general sense of a city’s air quality, they can’t account for air pollution at the neighborhood level, where people live, work, and play.

There are two ways local leaders can leverage hyperlocal air quality data to inform solutions for improving community health.

Finding the pollution culprit: Source apportionment

It’s common to see local variations in air pollution concentrations – a spike at one end of the block, but not the other. It’s more difficult, though, to determine the reasons behind that spike.

Through a process called source apportionment, cities can pinpoint the origin of air pollution emissions – using the most sophisticated methods, this information can be obtained at the level of down to a single idling truck, a specific power plant, or even a smoke stack from that plant. This level of specificity can show how individual sources are responsible for fluctuations in air pollution levels, as well as how much impact one sector of sources is having compared to others. For example, is a city’s biggest air pollution problem its diesel trucks or its power generation facilities?

Knowing exactly where pollution is coming from empowers city officials to see how much of their air pollution originates within their city boundaries, versus how much might be coming from a source in the neighboring region. Local governments, such as Salt Lake City are using these insights to identify where they have the authority to implement tailored interventions, or where they can collaborate with neighboring municipalities to clean the air for all.

Understanding the true impact air pollution has on health

The science is clear that air pollution is harmful to human health. Yet, we know little about where and how people are most affected.

Are the higher asthma rates in one neighborhood the result of pollution coming from local truck traffic, and not an upwind power plant? Is your community more or less affected than others in your city and why? Unfortunately, too often we’re seeing it’s low-income and minority populations that are hit the hardest, and tools like Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are being used to prioritize environmental justice and policy actions.

HIAs were introduced as an independent tool to help practitioners, and decision makers incorporate and weigh public health considerations in decision making. Cities, including New York, London and Barcelona are using HIAs to evaluate what the potential health gains are from adopting various policies. In the Bay Area and in Houston, satellite and sensor data are being used to make the invisible visible.

As local leaders devise solutions for improving air quality, it’s critical that human health is made a top consideration. Making health a factor in the cost benefit analysis will enable cities to show that not only did their policies drive down pollution levels, they too improved public health.

Cleaner skies for a healthier tomorrow

Even in cities that might meet health-based standards, air pollution can burden or even shorten residents’ lives. And it’s disproportionately impacting some communities more than others.

The global pandemic reinforces the need for policies guided by sound science that safeguard our health and climate. At the same time, it’s bringing longtime inequities into sharper focus.

As we look into the future, it’s critical that local leaders harness hyperlocal data to forge evidence-based policies that drastically reduce pollution while building more resilient, inclusive communities.

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How cities around the world are responding during the pandemic

Air pollution at some commuter hotspots in London, UK halved in the first four weeks of lockdown, according to new research by our European colleagues. A separate survey showed one in six with lung conditions noticed their conditions were improved during the lockdown. London also temporarily expanded its Congestion Charge to new hours during the evenings and weekends to help reduce traffic pollution. Ultra-low emission vehicles and electric vehicles may drive in Central London without paying the hefty fees.

In Houston, One Breath Partnership is educating residents about environmental racism and the disparities of health impacts of pollution and COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities.

In Beijing, China, local authorities used the biggest political gathering of the year, China’s “Two Sessions,” to set an example and promote cleaner transportation options to the public. During the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in May, NPC and CPPCC representatives from Beijing all used electric vehicles for conference-related transportation. Beijing also has been promoting green transportation through programs such as waiving bike-sharing fees during rush hour and providing additional discounts to frequent bike-sharing users. EDF’s bike-sharing air quality monitoring pilot can help provide supporting data and in turn evaluate the social impact of the city’s approaches to reducing air pollution.

Paris, France is subsidizing purchases of electric bicycles, up to half the cost, or 500 Euros.

Bogotá, Colombia has responded to the pandemic by accelerating existing efforts to encourage low-carbon and cleaner forms of urban transport, such as adding 80 km of ciclovia (bicycle lanes) to the existing 560 km network and making greater provision for pedestrians.

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EDF surveyed sustainability leaders across the globe to better understand cities’ unique challenges and opportunities for air pollution management. According to preliminary results, 82% of respondents recognize Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and source apportionment as necessary tools to take action on air pollution. To this point, EDF is interested in learning the current status of air quality in your region, and where you are in your air pollution management journey, including any obstacles and/or successes you’ve faced along the way. Please take 10 minutes to complete this Air Pollution Management Needs Assessment.

This was originally posted to the EDF Health blog.

Also posted in Academic, Community Organizer, Concerned Citizen, Government Official/Policymaker, Health / Authors: hrickenbacker_edfbiz / Comments are closed