Air Tracker: Mapping local air pollution

EDF’s Air Tracker is a real-time mapping tool that helps people learn about the air quality in their neighborhoods. Air Tracker combines air pollution data and weather forecasting to reveal what pollutants are in the air and where they may be coming from.

Air Tracker launched in 2022 in three U.S. cities: Houston, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since then, we’ve worked with partners to expand the tool to several more cities, ranging from Oakland, California and Birmingham, Alabama in the U.S. to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil. 

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Why Air Tracker matters

The air we breathe is polluted by many different sources, from cars and trucks to power plants and burning fossil fuels for home heating. Today, air pollution is the second-leading risk factor for death around the world, and is known to cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases like asthma, and heart disease.  

Pollution doesn’t respect boundaries: Shifting wind and weather patterns move air pollution around communities in unpredictable ways, making it hard to identify the sources. When we don’t know the source of pollution, we can’t make our air cleaner.

Air Tracker is changing that. Developed by EDF and research partners, it uses trusted scientific models to visualize potential sources of pollution, helping communities and local governments get the information needed to take actions that reduce emissions and protect the public’s health. 

Air Tracker allows users to drop a pin on an interactive map and learn where the air they’re breathing is most likely coming from.

Where is Air Tracker available?

The tool is available in these locations, with more on the way:

Brazil:

• Rio de Janeiro
• São Paulo 

United States:

• Beaumont, Texas
• Birmingham, Alabama
• Boston, Massachusetts
• The Bronx, New York
• Detroit, Michigan
• Houston, Texas
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Vallejo, California

Expansion to new cities across the globe is underway

Air Tracker is increasingly available internationally. EDF partners in China have developed a localized version of Air Tracker that is currently active in 14 cities across Hebei Province. Air Tracker’s technology is helping these cities identify hot spots and enforce air pollution standards.

Air Tracker continues to expand to other cities around the world, helping communities and governments turn air quality data into actions that deliver clean air, reducing pollution that harms people’s health and warms the climate.

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