Clean air and climate policies provide health benefits in New York City

A new study analyzes the links between the enactment of major air pollution and climate policies in New York City and significant improvement in air quality during the period 1998–2021. It finds a cumulative beneficial effect of these policies both city-wide and among residents residing in communities that have been disproportionately affected by air pollution.

The study by environmental health scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Public Health.

“Because of the known significant associations between the pollutants studied and multiple adverse health effects, there are important implications for health benefits, particularly for children, who are especially vulnerable to these exposures. The results support further environmental and social policy changes to prevent the serious health impacts of air pollution from fossil fuel emissions,” says senior author Frederica P. Perera, DrPH, Ph.D., director of the Program in Translational Research at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

The researchers utilized publicly available citywide air monitoring data for particulate matter (PM2.5) and 60 nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) from 2009–2021 from the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) database and CCCEH cohort data on residential exposure to PM2.5 and NO₂ and personal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during pregnancies occurring from 1998–2016 and 1998–2021, respectively. They compared annual and overall reductions in PM2.5 and NO₂ citywide and reductions in PAH concentrations in the cohort studies.

Co-authors include Kathleen Lau (first author), Jia Guo, Yuqi Miao, Kylie W. Riley, Shuang Wang, and Julie Herbstman at Columbia Mailman School and Zev Ross at Zev Ross Spatial Analysis.