Executive Summary
From April 11–13, 2018, WRI’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, OpenAQ, and WRI’s Governance Center, in its role as secretariat of The Access Initiative, hosted a workshop on air quality with 15 civil society experts from across the globe who have implemented successful strategies in the fight for clean air. The workshop was designed to collectively investigate the different air quality challenges and entry points in policy, public-sector administration, and private-sector priorities and unpack the key drivers of successful work.
This document synthesizes key insights and entry points for action from the workshop and provides recommendations to WRI as we develop our strategy to address air pollution and the range of environmental, public health, and socioeconomic impacts in
partnership with OpenAQ. Based on our lively discussion, we found the following key lessons for building a global movement for
clean air:
Collective action requires more effective coordination among the diverse set of air quality actors working across different scales and in different scientific, policy, legal, and data silos.
The workshop highlighted the different strategies being used to achieve regulatory reform as well as the gap between air quality data generators and the way data are used to address policy questions and approaches. Connections between air quality and health impacts and other social issues in particular was repeatedly emphasized as an important example of where multisector collaboration was needed. Workshop participants suggested that WRI, in close partnership with OpenAQ,
is well positioned to facilitate the necessary bridge building and should prioritize strategies that bring these
communities together for effective, collective action.
2. Civil society actors are using a wide range of accountability strategies to address air pollution policy failures. These include the use of social media, public art, strategic litigation, advocacy campaigns, generating and leveraging new sources of data, and fostering multistakeholder coalitions. This variety points to the need for deeper evaluation of these strategies
and tactics and better opportunities to share and adapt successful strategies across countries.
3. Unintended consequences or incomplete policy action point to the need to mainstream air
quality goals across multiple policy and planning frameworks. Pollution mitigation proposals often focus on the most visible or politically expedient sources of air pollution and don’t address the multifaceted drivers of the problem or address the social consequences of the policy response. This often leads to unintended problems like shifting the air pollution problem from mega-cities to smaller cities or from one country to another. Addressing these challenges requires development and implementation of system-based policies and practices that holistically address the wide range of environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts of air pollution.
4. Poor implementation and enforcement of existing laws and regulations significantly impedes air pollutant reductions in practice. Often this was attributed to poor political will of government actors, but workshop participants cited multiple
institutional challenges, including the lack of experts and capacity especially at the municipal or local level, inadequate agency budgets, poor guidance laws and regulations, and poor interministerial coordination. Creating an enabling environment that builds the capacity of government to address these challenges must be prioritized as part of clean air initiatives.
5. Language and communication strategies are critical for reaching the broad range of stakeholders needed for action. Translating technical data into forms that can be understood and used by a diverse range of nontechnical stakeholders, including local community members, journalists, judges, and city-level officials, will be essential if the goal is to align the efforts of different stakeholders toward a shared, effective, lasting solution and build political momentum.
6. Air quality data and better science around air pollution sources is needed to help transform growing awareness of the air pollution problem into focused demand for action and the development of targeted solutions that can be implemented and
enforced. Access to reliable, timely, and understandable data is still a significant challenge, especially at the municipal and subnational level. Achieving this pathway for change—awareness through action—requires development of different models that help ensure that air quality sensors, source identification, and other data innovations can be tailored and used to address the technical, institutional, and political barriers across different scales and geographies. At the same time, air quality actors must develop a deeper understanding of the data needs of different policy, civil
society, and scientific actors.
7. Solutions that overcome political barriers are critical for mobilizing clean air action. Air quality actors must work together to develop new approaches that change the political dialogue and foster sustaining coordinated action across sectors and geographies.
Among the Key Lessons and Entry Points for Action raised and discussed atthe workshop were the connections between air quality and social issues in particular was repeatedly emphasized as an important example of where multi-sector collaboration was needed. In Mongolia, workshop participants believe the lack of understanding about the health impacts of dangerous air pollution levels in Ulaanbaatar is exacerbated by the lack of information about air quality. In Israel*, applying air quality data to a municipal socioeconomic framework allowed civil society experts to highlight air quality as an
indicator of environmental injustice. In this case better air quality indicated areas far away from public transportation access and the lack of industrial economic zones in Arab population-dominated locations. This kind of insight was a result of an integrated policy, open data, and a social approach to pollution.
* presented by Carmit Lubanov, Association of Environmental Justice in Israel
