Air Pollution & Climate

Although Philadelphia still ranks as significantly polluted with ozone and particulate matter in comparison to other U.S. cities, the American Lung Association’s report has also found that Philadelphia’s daily measurements of these pollutants have improved to their best yet. Moreover, the AQI (air quality index) in Philadelphia remains “good” for the majority of the time, with only very seldom dips into the “moderate” category⁶. This improved air quality could likely be associated with the successes of the Clean Air Act, along with other regulations, councils, and infrastructure changes implemented within the city. Efforts made to alleviate air pollution are led by a range of stakeholders, including residents of the city who worry for their own health, as well as several organizations and agencies that aim to monitor and improve air quality. A significant stakeholder organization in the Philadelphia region is the Clean Air Council, a member-supported environmental organization dedicated to protecting and defending everyone’s right to a healthy environment⁷. Within our greater working definition of sustainability, their mission honors social justice initiatives and uplifts the idea that a healthy environment is a basic human right. The Clean Air Council uses public education, community action, government oversight, and enforcement of environmental laws to work through a broad array of related sustainability and public health initiatives in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The Clean Air Council has deployed air monitors in Northeast Philadelphia, has created a website to track truck illegal idling in the Philadelphia area, and has provided pedestrian advocacy through its “Feet First Philly” initiative in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by promoting walking and bicycling as an alternative to vehicle usage. These are just a few examples of the Council’s initiatives as stakeholders. The city of Philadelphia’s Air Pollution Control Board is also a crucial asset to monitoring and mitigating air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. As one of the city council’s several environmentally focused departments, the Air Pollution Control Board advises the Department of Public Health on air quality issues and promotes regulations that protect air quality standards, control air contaminants, and establish air quality objectives⁸. This means that the Department of Public Health is also a relevant stakeholder, as its mission is to protect and promote the health of all Philadelphians, providing assistance to those that may be disproportionately impacted by health complications or limited access to healthcare⁹, once again honoring sustainability’s inherent link to social justice and wellbeing. The overarching Office of Sustainability within Philadelphia’s city council can also be deemed a relevant stakeholder, as it works toward environmental justice and aims to reduce carbon emissions through advocacy, education, policymaking, and instituting benchmarks for energy use and clean energy transition¹⁰. 

A number of initiatives are in place in Philadelphia as an effort to combat air pollution and climate change. City greening initiatives, such as converting brownfields to parks and implementing rooftop gardens, clean the air by regulating carbon in the atmosphere. The city’s walkability also plays a role in reducing carbon emissions, along with infrastructure assets such as the SEPTA public transportation system. The city of Philadelphia encourages residents to consider walking, biking, or taking SEPTA to their desired destination, limiting idling in their vehicles, and to consider vehicle emissions when purchasing a new car¹¹. Possible limitations to these proposed solutions are efficiency and reliability. Many residents may prefer their car over walking if they need to get to another part of the city quickly, and public transportation may not be perfectly reliable or convenient with their schedules. Public transportation is heavily utilized in Philadelphia, and the city boasts a high level of walkability,  yet it is still largely vehicle reliant. Increased usage of electric vehicles may help to mitigate emissions. On the whole, the city of Philadelphia aims to switch to renewable energy resources such as solar energy in an effort to generate or purchase renewable energy for 100% of its electricity by 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050¹². Switching to solar energy would decrease greenhouse gas emissions, as electric power generation is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution¹³. However, there are some limitations to the widespread implementation of solar power, such as the fact that it may be inconsistent due to its weather dependency, its expense, and the fact that solar panels take up significant space and are difficult to dispose of. Still, when considering cost-benefit analysis, the anticipated benefits of switching to renewable resources outweigh these potential limitations. 

From a policy standpoint, Philadelphia has recently approved a revision by the city’s Health Department for regulation of carcinogenic compounds such as asbestos, lead, arsenic, and benzene emitted from facilities in the city¹⁴. Just recently, in February 2024, the EPA has implemented a new soot standard for the Philadelphia region, aiming to reduce fine particulate matter pollution. Fine particulate matter can enter the lungs and bloodstream, increasing incidences of asthma attacks, heart attacks, and cancer. This new, stricter standard lowers the concentration of allowable PM2.5 pollution in the air by 25% — a change EPA predicts could prevent thousands of premature deaths in 2032¹⁵. This policy also aims to address the social justice implications of disproportionate exposure to particulate pollution among racial and socioeconomic groups, as it has been found that Black and Hispanic children are hospitalized for asthma symptoms at much higher rates than White and Asian children in Philadelphia¹⁵. Asthma hospitalizations are much higher in certain neighborhoods of the city, such as lower Northeast, upper North, and West Philadelphia. This new EPA implemented standard honors environmental health as a human right, and will hopefully prove successful in cutting down industrial emissions of fine particulate matter. Philadelphia’s air is cleaner than it has been in decades, as stakeholders work toward infrastructural changes and policy initiatives that honor human wellbeing as an entity of sustainability. However, continued individual, industrial, and governmental efforts to mitigate emissions are crucial to maintenance and improvement of the city’s air quality and residential health and wellbeing. 

List of assets for air pollution & climate change: 

• Clean Air Council, 135 S 19th St Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19103
• Philadelphia Air Management Lab, 1501 E Lycoming St, Philadelphia, PA 19124
• Air Management Services, 321 S University Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• Office of Sustainability, 1515 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19102