Ambient Air Quality Synergies with a 2050 Carbon Neutrality Pathway in South Korea

South Korea is a signatory of the Paris Agreement and has announced its aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, South Korea’s current policy trajectory is not compatible with maintaining a global temperature rise below 2 °C. Climate change has not been a dominant electoral issue in South Korea, with national concerns being prioritized. A Paris-Agreement-compatible development pathway could synergistically improve ambient air quality in South Korea. This research examines the gains of a climate action pathway that would achieve 2050 carbon neutrality, compared to a business-as-usual (BAU) pathway, in South Korea. The work aims to add further evidence to the potential national gains from strong climate action across all sectors in South Korea. The paper argues that by focusing on and estimating national gains, the momentum for enhanced climate policy action can be intensified by framing robust climate action as an opportunity rather than a cost. Through a climate action pathway, South Korea could avoid 835 years of life lost (YLL) in 2030, 2237 YLL in 2040 and 3389 YLL in 2050. Through this pathway, South Korea could also cumulatively abate 5539 million tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) in greenhouse gas emissions over the 2022–2050 period.

Introduction to the special issue: Air quality on the South African Highveld

This call for papers sought to consolidate the most recent air quality research undertaken in the Highveld to build on the foundation established by Tyson, Kruger and Louw (1987). Our hope is that through consolidating the investigations, assessments, and ambient air quality monitoring, that management interventions can be refined, improved, and more effectively implemented. Such interventions having the effect of materially reducing the prevailing disease burden and ultimately giving effect to the constitutional right of people living on the Highveld, to an environment that is not harmful to their health or welfare.

The quality of the first and second Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area (VTAPA) Air Quality Management Plans

In response to deteriorating air quality, South Africa implemented national programmes that aim to manage and regulate ambient air quality and air pollution. Air Quality Management Plans (AQMPs) are clear outlines of measures and resources needed to achieve air quality objectives in a given geographical area and require support from government, business, industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the public. The success of the AQMPs depends primarily on the support of all stakeholders and the quality of the management plan. The Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area (VTAPA) was declared in 2006 as an area where ambient air quality standards are exceeded or may cause adverse air quality impacts. This research study focused on the VTAPA to evaluate the quality of the first and second-generation AQMPs for the VTAPA. Quality evaluation includes an analysis of procedures, processes, methods and documents. Effectiveness refers to the results of individual activities; therefore, the extent to which the AQMP met the expected outcomes of the review package defined the quality of the AQMP report. Both the first and draft second-generation AQMPs were considered to be of good quality. The first-generation AQMP was found to be of better quality than that of the draft second-generation AQMP. Funding mechanisms need to be investigated to assist in implementing intervention strategies in the AQMP as both the first and draft second-generation AQMPs were found to lack the potential to secure funds. Though the draft second-generation AQMP was found to be of lesser quality, the source apportionment study for identification of all sources as well as a better-outlined air quality management system was found to be good improvements to the AQMP.

How Does Air Pollution Influence Housing Prices in the Bay Area?

In this paper we examine the effects of localized air pollution measurements on the housing prices in Oakland, CA. With high-resolution air pollution measurements for NO, NO2, and BC, we can assess the ambient air quality on a parcel-by-parcel basis within the study domain. We combine a spatial lag model with an instrumental variable method to consider both the spatial autocorrelation and endogeneity effects between housing prices and air pollution concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in this field that combines both spatial autocorrelation and endogeneity effects in one model with accurate air pollution concentration measurements for each individual parcel. We found a positive spatial autocorrelation with housing prices using Moral’s I (value of 0.276) with the total sample number of 26,386. Somewhat surprisingly, we found a positive relationship between air pollution and housing prices. There are several possible explanations for this finding. Homeowners in high demand, low-stock housing areas, such as our study, may be insensitive to air pollution when the overall ambient air quality is relatively good. It is also possible that under clean air conditions, low variability in pollutant concentrations has little effect on property values. These hypotheses could be verified with more high-resolution air pollution measurements with a diversity of regions.

An Overview of Experiences Made and Tools Used to Inform the Public on Ambient Air Quality

Legislative regulations on atmospheric pollution have been established in different parts of the world for addressing air quality management. An important public commitment, common among all nations, is to ensure environmental safety and health protection, particularly for the most fragile population groups. Each country has its own rules and practices to provide adequate and timely information on ambient air quality. Information is given either through easily accessible media, including websites and apps, or by traditional means of telecommunication. An air quality index (AQI) is definitely a valuable tool for disseminating data on the main regulated pollutants and represents a readable indicator of the prevailing situation of air quality in the area. Several calculating expressions were formulated to combine, in a unique value, different parameters, and a few methods were created to determine and compare different AQIs. This paper gives almost a global overview of approaches and tools used to inform the public about the status of the ambient air quality. Different AQIs are analyzed to contribute to the sharing of air quality management practices and information to raise public awareness and to help policymakers to act accordingly.