Union of Concerned Scientists
JUNE 6, 2023
Older vehicles (pre-2004) make up 19% of the state’s passenger vehicles and only 12% of miles driven, yet they emit almost 3 times as much smog-forming, nitrogen-oxide pollution as all 2004 and later vehicles combined. These pollutants react in the atmosphere to form harmful particulate matter pollution known as PM 2.5.
Union of Concerned Scientists
MAY 13, 2024
The air quality for this report was calculated using data reviewed by EPA from 2020, 2021, and 2022. That means it includes the extreme wildfires exacerbated by the fossil fuel industry that burned more than 4% of California in 2021 and 2022. Ozone plays a dual role in our atmosphere.
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Union of Concerned Scientists
FEBRUARY 9, 2024
Responsible for 12 percent of all US global warming emissions from human activities, methane traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 86 times more harmful for the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. First, there’s air pollution.
Union of Concerned Scientists
JANUARY 10, 2024
Most notable of these polluting emissions are nitrogen oxides (NOx). Leaks in gas pipelines and wells also release methane into the atmosphere, a much more potent heat-trapping emission than CO 2. Elevated exposure to NOx emissions is linked to asthma, lung, and heart damage, and affects pregnancy and birth outcomes.
Breezometer
MARCH 23, 2022
Particulate matter can be released into the atmosphere through emission from direct sources (‘primary particles’), or it can form in the atmosphere via chemical reactions of gasses (‘secondary particles’). In 2021, the WHO even tightened its annual and daily limits for PM 2.5 Where does Particulate Matter Come From?
Union of Concerned Scientists
NOVEMBER 30, 2023
A 2021 study found that a majority of PM 2.5 Reducing fossil fuel pollution leads to fewer deaths and more healthcare savings UCS found that decarbonization policies result in a decline in key pollutants such as PM 2.5 , nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides. These sources of PM 2.5 Source: UCS.
Enviromental Defense
FEBRUARY 11, 2022
600 per cent more by 2040 – which is going to add a lot more climate pollution to the atmosphere! And they are big emitters of nitrogen oxides too – a dangerous pollutant – which is why residents in Oakville and Mississauga fought against gas plants being located in their communities. .
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