Spare the Air – Cool the Climate

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (District), the local air pollution control agency for the nine-county region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, has developed the first multi-pollutant–multi-sector plan. This plan integrates measures to achieve and maintain California state and US ambient air quality standards, reduce smog pollution (ozone and particulate matter) and toxic air contaminants, eliminate disproportionate impacts on communities and reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to the earth’s changing climate. This article describes the plan, focusing on the specific strategies the District and its partner agencies will rely upon to address the threat of air pollution and climate change in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. This plan serves as a model for integrating air pollution and climate change programmes at the local level. The plan also provides a bold vision for addressing climate change by visualizing what the Bay Area may look like in a post-carbon year 2050 – where we will live, how we will travel, what we will produce, and what we will consume.