Air quality and equity

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AIR QUALITY AND EQUITY

Dr. Gordon Mitchell

The School of Geography and Institute for Transport Studies, The University of Leeds

g.mitchell@leeds.ac.uk

Merseyside Transport, Health and Environment Forum Mersey Travel, Liverpool, 22nd Jan 2003

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The Presentation

+

An Introduction to Environmental Equity

+

Environmental (NO

₂

) Equity Examples:

! #1: Road User Charging in Leeds

! #2: Air Quality in Britain

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CONTEXT: SUD MODELLING

TRANSP

ORT LANDUSE

POPULA TION CORE MODELS SECTOR MODELS Common property problems ‘Non-nebulous’ DIFFUS E POLLU TION ENERG Y & CO2

WATER DEMAN D AIR QUALIT Y ENV HEALT H APPRAISAL TOOLS: (SEE Indicators, MCA etc)

Scenario Policie

Plans

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AN INTRODUCTION

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Sustainable Development Trade-Offs

Stagnation Degra dation Ma ldi stri_but ion SUST. DEVT. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL

JUSTICE _{EQUITY vs. ENVIRONMENT} ENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION

Growth vs. Environment Equity vs.

Growth

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Environmental Equity in the USA

+ Environmental equity

concerns grew from civil rights movement

+ Concern over siting of

hazardous facilities

+ Very strong protests

over race/poverty bias

+ Inadequate empirical

evidence of bias

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The Presidential Order

+

Clinton’s 1994 Executive Order : “Federal

actions to address environmental justice in

minority and low income populations”.

+

Must address “disproportionately high and

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Implementing the Order

+

Guidance on implementation of the

Presidential Order emerging via:

! Federal working groups & enforcement actions

(e.g. EPA TWG on EJ assessment of actions proposed re Clean Air Act compliance)

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Environmental Equity in Europe

+

UN ECE Aarhus Convention on the

Environment

(adopted 1998, ratified Oct 2001)

! Public access to environmental information

(Directive proposed June 2001)

! Public participation in environmental plans and

programmes (Directive proposed Jan 2001)

! Access to justice in environmental matters

(Directive proposals under discussion)

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Environmental Equity in the UK

+

Recent empirical analyses of:

! Landfill sites and health impacts

! Exposure to hazardous industrial facilities

! Exposure to air quality (mostly cities by ward)

+

Varied responses (from government,

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ENVIRONMENTAL

EQUITY EXAMPLE #1:

AIR QUALITY

RESPONSES TO

ROAD USER CHARGING

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The Leeds Study

+

EPSRC-DETR project with Leeds CC

+

Air quality impact of transport strategies:

! Cordon charging (Single and Double)

! Distance charging (Charges at 2-20 p/km) ! Network development (Do-All, Do-Min)

! Clean fuel promotion

! Do-nothing, “business as usual” 1993-2015 +

Modelling method

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The Env. Equity Analysis

+ Data on a 200m grid:

- modelled annual NO2

- Deprivation index

+ Analysis to assess:

- environmental equity - env equity responses

to transport options

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Env. Equity under ‘Do-nothing’

Annua

lm

ea

n

NO

2

ug/

m

3

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Disease Burden Assessment

+

All Leeds disease burden from air quality

under 2005 “Do-All” scenario (most likely)

! Deaths BF due to PM₁₀ = 94 ± 5

(2.1% of all deaths)

! RHA’s due to PM₁₀ = 140 ± 1

(2.3% of all RHA’s)

! RHA’s due to NO₂ = 62 ±

(1.0% of all RHA’s)

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Disease burden from NO

2

, 1993

Total NO2 DB in Leeds = 96 RHA / yr

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Case Study #1 Findings

+

The ‘poor’ in Leeds suffer significantly greater

NO2

exposure than people of average means

+

Change in inequality is strongly proportional to

change in city-wide air quality

+

All transport options that improve city-wide air

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ENVIRONMENTAL

EQUITY EXAMPLE #2:

AIR QUALITY IN

GREAT BRITAIN

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Study Objectives

+

To test two common assumptions:

! Disadvantaged groups experience the greatest

pollution exposure

! The poor largely bear the pollution costs of the

affluent

+

To address conflicting results of past ward

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Data and Methods

+

Study Area - All 10 444 wards in Britain

+

Air quality - Mean annual NO

₂

per ward

centroid from NETCEN 1999 1 km grid

map

+

Disadvantaged groups:

! Children (1991 census data updated to 1999) ! Non-car owners (1991 data)

! The Poor (1999 Breadline Britain Index)

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Age Analysis

1999

annual

mean

NO

2

ug/

m

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Age Analysis #2

Rat io NO 2 in upper & lower age decile Age

Above average NO2

Below average NO2

Children have higher

NO2 exposure….

…..due to parental location choices

Inequality but probably not

injustice

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Car Ownership Analysis

1999 annual mean NO 2 ug/ m 3

1027 wards per no car decile Bars denote 95% CI

‘Many cars’ wards ‘Few cars’ wards

Wards with few cars are most polluted, hence: “Traffic pollution is caused by the better off, but the

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Poverty Analysis

1999 annual mean NO 2 ug/ m 3

% Households in poverty (BB Index)

1027 wards per poverty decil bars denote 95% CI

‘Affluent’ wards ‘Poor’ wards

Most deprived AND least deprived

experience above average NO2 exposure

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Affluent wards pollute most?

+

Annual NOx emission from vehicles

estimated (crudely) for all GB wards:

! DVLA postcoded vehicle data

! 35 vehicle groups (age / cc / fuel type) ! MEET NO_x emission factors at 55 kph

(older cars emit more)

! MEET UK age-distance correction

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Emission Analysis

+ Less cars and car

use in ‘poor’ wards is balanced by use of older more

polluting vehicles

+ Deprived wards

make significant contributions to vehicle emissions Vehicle NOx emission (tonnes / yr / ward)

% households in poverty

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But inequality does occur....

Wards of worst air quality emit least AND are the most deprived

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Case Study #2 Findings

+ Children and the poor do experience above average

NO2, but the justice interpretation is not simple

+ The poor do not largely bear the pollution cost of the

affluent, they also contribute significantly to pollution

+ Air quality policy to tackle environmental injustice

should not focus simply on deprived areas, but should focus on a sub-set of deprived areas with poor air quality and few local emissions

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ISSUES IN

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Measuring Inequality

+

Technical Issues:

! Environmental justice for who?

! What is the appropriate spatial unit of analysis? ! How large should the study area be?

! Env. metrics: exposure or adverse effect? ! Multiple, cumulative and indirect impacts

! Assessing not just facilities, but plans & policies

+

A need for standard assessment methods

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Identifying Injustice

+

Understanding causation:

! Inequalities as a product of neighbourhood

transition processes, or discrimination?

+

Is inequality unjust?

! How unequal is unfair?

! Which justice theory (Rawlsian, Utilitarian etc.)

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Addressing Injustice

+

Building environmental equity / justice

assessments into policy and plan

evaluation (i.e. all SD trade-offs)

+

Ensure public involvement in equity issues:

! Scoping (e.g. identifying target groups)

! Reviewing appraisals

! Agreeing mitigation measures

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Publications

Mitchell, G. and Dorling, D. (In press). An Environmental Justice Analysis of British Air Quality, Environment and Planning A

Mitchell, G. (Sub. 10/02). The Response of Urban Air Quality to Strategic Road Transport Initiatives: An Environmental Justice Analysis of Leeds, UK. Transportation Research Part D

Mitchell, G., Namdeo, A., May, A.D. and Milne, D. (Sub. 9/02). Road User Charging and Urban Air Quality: An Empirical Analysis of Leeds, UK.

Transportation Research Part D

Mitchell, G., Namdeo, A., May, A.D. and Milne, D. (2003). The Air Quality Implications of Urban Road User Charging. Transport Engineering and Control, Feb, 352-357.

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