Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA.
California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA.
Sci Adv. 2024 Sep 13;10(37):eadn8544. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn8544. Epub 2024 Sep 11.
As policymakers increasingly focus on environmental justice, a key question is whether emissions reductions aimed at addressing air quality or climate change can also ameliorate persistent air pollution exposure disparities. We examine evidence from California's aggressive vehicle emissions control policy from 2000 to 2019. We find a 65% reduction in modeled statewide average exposure to PM from on-road vehicles, yet for people of color and overburdened community residents, relative exposure disparities increased. Light-duty vehicle emissions are the main driver of the exposure and exposure disparity, although smaller contributions from heavy-duty vehicles especially affect some overburdened groups. Our findings suggest that a continued trend of emissions reductions will likely reduce concentrations and absolute disparity but may not reduce relative disparities without greater attention to the systemic factors leading to this disparity.
随着政策制定者越来越关注环境正义，一个关键问题是，旨在解决空气质量或气候变化的减排措施是否也能改善长期存在的空气污染暴露差距。我们研究了加利福尼亚州从 2000 年到 2019 年实施的积极的车辆排放控制政策的证据。我们发现，道路车辆产生的 PM statewide 平均暴露量减少了 65%，但对于有色人种和负担过重的社区居民，相对暴露差距却在增加。轻型车辆排放是暴露和暴露差距的主要驱动因素，尽管重型车辆的较小贡献也会特别影响一些负担过重的群体。我们的研究结果表明，随着排放量的持续减少，浓度和绝对差距可能会缩小，但如果不更多地关注导致这种差距的系统性因素，相对差距可能不会缩小。
