Metro Vancouver’s air quality has steadily improved over the last decade, even as the region has grown, thanks to progressive regulations, proactive management plans, more stringent air quality objectives, and education and outreach programs.
These actions, outlined in the 10th anniversary edition of Caring for the Air, have led to lower levels of most air contaminants and Metro Vancouver’s achievement of carbon neutrality as an organization.
The annual state-of-the-air report summarizes key trends and the work Metro Vancouver is doing to improve air quality and address climate change in the region. This year’s special edition features a look back at the accomplishments of the past decade, and the key challenges in the years ahead.
Caring for the Air 2021 covers topics like:
- Metro Vancouver’s roadmap to becoming a carbon neutral region;
- how Metro Vancouver achieved and plans to maintain corporate carbon neutrality;
- how the COVID-19 pandemic affected regional air quality; and
- ways Metro Vancouver is reducing wood smoke from residential burning.
Metro Vancouver’s plans and policies address air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and ground-level ozone, as well as greenhouse gases. These efforts are supported by a comprehensive outdoor air quality monitoring network, which has been upgraded and expanded over the last 10 years, and by tracking emissions in the airshed shared with the Fraser Valley Regional District and the northwest portion of Washington State.
