Case Studies in Improving Urban Air Quality – Third Edition, March 2018

This is the International Gas Union’s (IGU) third Urban Air Quality report. Each study compellingly demonstrates that switching to natural gas for power generation, heating, industry and transport dramatically improves air quality around the world – thereby enhancing and saving human lives. The first report, released at COP 21 in Paris, presented case studies of efforts in four mega cities — New York, Istanbul, Toronto, and Beijing — to improve urban air quality. The second edition of the report was released in Strasbourg, during 2016 Gas Week at the European Parliament. It featured efforts to improve air quality in three European cities: Berlin, Dublin, and Krakow; as well as the Port of Rotterdam.

This third edition continues to build on the previous work to highlight the efforts to improve urban air quality. This edition provides an update on efforts in Beijing and includes two additional examples of major actions in the Chinese cities of Urumqi and Shanghai. It also extends to South America, with an example of air quality improvements in Santiago, Chile.