Global Clean Air

Efforts to fight air pollution are severely underfunded. Leaders in Latin America and across the Global South are calling for change at COP28 and beyond

By Derek Schwabe / Published: November 30, 2023
The Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean convenes in Panama City, Panama in October 2023. The Forum plays a crucial role in shaping environmental policies and achieving consensus across the region.

The Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean convenes in Panama City, Panama in October 2023. The Forum plays a crucial role in shaping and building consensus around environmental policies.

What’s new: The ministers of environment representing 33 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region recently issued a joint declaration calling out the yawning gap between the funds needed to address the global air pollution crisis and the funds currently committed. The declaration is noteworthy because it has set a tone for influential global dialogues happening this week at COP28 and in February at the 6th session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6).

Why it matters: 99% of the world’s population now breathes unhealthy air. As a result, more than 8 million people die prematurely each year due to fossil fuel-driven air pollution, making it the 4th leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the staggering human costs, currently only 1% of development funding goes to programs aimed at improving air quality each year.

The LAC region is one of the most underfunded when it comes to air quality. Expanding investments in air quality would help the region reach its climate goals and improve health outcomes. It could also set the stage for scaling investments in air quality in underfunded regions across the Global South.

The details: In the declaration, ministers stressed the need for regional and global coordination. They also called upon the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)—which is responsible for leading implementation—to provide technical support to countries as they enact key policies, like air quality standards and management plans. Specific actions requested of UNEP include:

  • Leading the implementation of the Regional Action Plan on Air Quality and mobilizing the resources needed to support it;
  • Helping countries strengthen legal frameworks to prevent and reduce air pollution by adopting air quality standards and developing plans for crucial sectors;
  • Encouraging countries to act boldly to abate emissions of short-lived climate pollutants;
  • Promoting best practices, infrastructure and sustainable transport initiatives that can ensure a just transition in hot spots, especially large cities.

What they’re saying: Senior Policy Director of Global Clean Air, Sergio Sanchez, spoke of the declaration: “This declaration marks a bold step toward realizing the vision of a thriving LAC region. When we act collectively to cut air pollution, we act to meet the climate crisis, strengthen our economy and dramatically improve health. We will continue to support the regional and global partnerships needed to mobilize this action at COP 28, UNEA-6 and beyond.”

What EDF is doing: In September 2022, EDF and UNEP launched a joint initiative to help LAC countries develop funding-ready clean air projects. Since then, EDF has continued to grow that effort by:

  • Helping UNEP implement the Regional Action Plan to coordinate strategic investments.
  • Convening two major international workshops to reactivate the region’s Intergovernmental Network on Air Pollution. These workshops have fostered new partnerships and high-impact projects backed by participant governments and global partners, such as the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the OECD.
  • Hosting a side event at the 2023 LAC Climate Week, focused on mobilizing greater financing for air quality in the region. The event debuted a new video that lays out how such actions could transform population health and power economic growth.
  • Serving on the Climate and Clean Air Coalition task force, which is dedicated to designing the Clean Air Flagship, set to launch at COP28. The purpose of the Flagship is to enhance funding and cooperation efforts globally.

What’s next: As leaders from all sectors gather at COP28, LAC leaders have an opportunity to take their call to the global stage. It’s a chance to join with governments from across world—especially other neglected regions—to demand that the air pollution crisis receives the funding it requires.

Leaders will have a second opportunity at UNEA-6 to secure greater investments in air quality by having the global assembly ratify regional calls for broader support. If ratified, UNEP would be tasked with implementing the declaration of the global assembly. Ratification would give UNEP some additional budget—and a stronger mandate to take to donor governments and agencies.

Learn more about our clean air partnership with UNEP and LAC countries at globalcleanair.org/LAC.

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New science to help policymakers address unequal impacts of air pollution

By Maria Harris / Published: November 13, 2023
NO2 pollution in the United States and the extent to which tools capture differences in exposure by marginalized groups

This graphic maps nitrogen dioxide pollution levels in the United States as quantified by satellite, monitor and model data sources (left) and shows how these datasets differ in estimating inequities in pollution exposure (right)

What’s new: EDF and partners have just published new research that explores how novel data sources, including satellites and computer models, can help improve our ability to map, identify, track and reduce disparities in air pollution exposure and health impacts.

What we know: 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 root cause of this pollution inequity is historic disinvestment in communities of color through racist policies like redlining, along with discriminatory siting of highways and polluting industrial facilities.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a key health-harming pollutant emitted by trucks, cars and industrial facilities, can vary substantially at fine spatial scales – even from one end of a block to the other. For example, an EDF study in West Oakland, California found that NO2 levels could be up to four times higher in areas of the neighborhood close to truck traffic and other pollution sources.

Research and policy decision-making has historically relied on NO2 measurements from government regulatory monitors—complex and expensive stationary instruments that must meet rigorous standards. Data from these monitors helps the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identify areas where air pollution levels exceed Clean Air Act health standards and guides actions to reduce pollution. However, given how much NO2 concentrations can vary across small distances, it is unlikely we will ever deploy enough of these monitors to enable a full understanding of exposure disparities that exist between population groups.

What this research adds: New datasets, including satellite data, statistical models and photochemical models, can estimate NO2 at a relatively high spatial resolution and across the entire United States. Our new research compared estimates of NO2 levels and racial/ethnic exposure disparities using these novel data sources to estimates based on traditional data from the US EPA regulatory monitoring network.

The new NO2 data sources showed that Black, Hispanic, Asian and multiracial Americans experienced average NO2 levels that were 15-50% higher than those experienced by the US population in 2019. Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population experienced levels that were 5-15% lower. In contrast, data from the regulatory monitors indicated more moderate patterns of racial/ethnic disparities, suggesting that the regulatory network does not currently provide a full understanding of inequity in pollution exposure.

NO2
dataset*

How it can contribute to better policies and enforcement
Regulatory Monitors • Monitoring attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards
• Ground-truthing satellite and model datasets
Satellites • Guiding placement of future regulatory monitors or measurement campaigns
• Identifying potential pollution
Photochemical and statistical models • Tracking and reporting trends over time in pollution disparities
• Estimating NO2-attributable disease burdens and associated disparities
• Quantifying source sector contributions to ambient NO2 (Photochemical models)

Moving forward: This research demonstrates that policymakers and regulators will need to incorporate new sources of data beyond the existing regulatory monitoring network to accurately understand which policies are or could be most effective in helping close the racial-ethnic gap in air pollution exposure.

The table above outlines how satellite and modeling data can complement existing sources. Satellite data can be leveraged to identify pollution hotspots currently not measured by regulatory monitors, which could guide placement of new government monitors and investigations of potential emissions sources. Air pollution models can enable tracking and reporting of pollution disparity trends over time   and make it easier to quantify health impacts.

Integrating these new data sources into regulatory decision-making would improve the coverage of the regulatory monitoring network, enable a more complete understanding of inequities in air pollution exposure and inform policies aimed at mitigating this environmental injustice.

Maria Harris in a Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. Learn more about her work here. 

*Table adapted from Table 1 in Kerr et al. 2023

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Speak now or forever hold your breath

By Vanessa Glavinskas / Published: June 15, 2023

Originally posted on EDF.

A car with grey exhaust pouring out of its tailpipe

Exposure to high levels of tailpipe pollution is linked to asthma, heart disease and cancer. (Getty)

Right now, almost every vehicle on U.S. roads emits tailpipe pollution.

That means every time you idle in heavy traffic — or spend time in a bustling city or near a major transportation hub — you’re being exposed to a steady stream of pollutants, including soot, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and carbon monoxide.

This tailpipe pollution is harmful for many reasons. Exposure to high levels is linked to asthma, heart disease, even cancer. Scientists from the Environmental Defense Fund found that even small increases in exposure are associated with increased health care costs. And transportation is the biggest source of planet-warming pollution in the United States.

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed two rules that would limit the amount of tailpipe pollution that automakers can release into the atmosphere. The rules would dramatically clean up the air we breathe while reducing almost 10 billion tons of climate pollution.

Tell the EPA to cut tailpipe pollution and green-light clean cars!

If the standards are adopted, the EPA estimates that two-thirds of new passenger cars and trucks sold in the U.S. would be free of tailpipe pollution by 2032, and up to half of certain types of new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles — including urban delivery trucks, freight trucks and buses — would be zero-emitting.

“In addition to its massive climate benefits, this proposal can make a huge difference for urban air pollution, reducing premature deaths and asthma attacks,” says Environmental Defense Fund’s President Fred Krupp.

It’s not just environmentalists — automakers are on board with lower emissions too

The proposals have found support not only from health and environmental advocates, but from automakers as well. That’s due, in part, to the investments that car manufacturers have already made in zero-emission vehicles.

Over the past eight years, companies have announced investments of more than $120 billion in EV and battery manufacturing. Federal investments, like those included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and Inflation Reduction Act, have also increased, and costs are declining rapidly. In just three years, U.S. factories will be capable of producing more than 4.3 million new electric vehicles each year, according to a recent EDF study.

Companies with clean vehicle goals include GM, with a goal of eliminating tailpipe pollution from new passenger vehicles by 2035. Ford expects electric vehicles to represent half of its global sales volume by 2030. Volvo has committed to selling 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and Volkswagen plans to sell 55% zero-emission vehicles by 2030. Truck manufacturers Navistar and Daimler Trucks North America both project 50 to 60% of their sales will be zero-emission vehicles by 2030.

“In coming up with these standards, the EPA looked at the available technology, assessed the feasibility of those technologies, and considered the lead time and cost,” says EDF attorney Peter Zalzal. “A really powerful proof point that they are achievable is that manufacturers are on board.”

“Electric vehicle technology is already very firmly in the marketplace and accelerating,” adds Zalzal. “So it makes sense for the EPA to set tailpipe pollution standards based on that technology.”

The new tailpipe emission standards are expected to be finalized by the end of 2023.

More clean air action

Vehicles aren’t the only source of air pollution getting attention from the Biden administration.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently stood in front of smokestacks in Louisiana to announce the agency’s intent to sharply reduce toxic emissions from about 250 of the country’s largest petrochemical facilities, many of which are located along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans — a corridor also known as Cancer Alley.

Near one chemical plant in St. John the Baptist Parish, a primarily Black neighborhood, residents’ cancer risk is 700 times the national average.

“The cancer rates here are unbelievable,” says St. John Parish resident Robert Taylor. “By the time our children are 2 years old, they have been exposed to as much pollution as most people are exposed to over 70 years.”

Since March, the agency has also proposed strengthening protections for mercury and other toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants and finalized its “good neighbor” plan to protect millions of people from poorly controlled smokestack pollution that wafts across state lines, a move that’s expected to prevent nearly 110,000 asthma attacks and improve health for millions of people in downwind states.

“All of these actions are good for the climate, they are good for protecting public health, for growing jobs and protecting consumers,” Zalzal says.

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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 (PM2.5) 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 (PM2.5). 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, PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 not reflected in EPA’s analysis of 47 metro areas: PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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.

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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 (PM2.5) 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 levels in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) region. The average PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 concentrations. So far in 2022, the four peak days of PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 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.

 

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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

cyclists travel in special traffic lane

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.

 

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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 (PM2.5).

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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