Report series Cleaner Air
pollution ends.
What the evidence says works, and what one household, school or business can actually do.
Air outlook, illustrated
Haze
An illustration, not a measurement. For real readings where you live, use your state environment agency's published air quality data.
Table 1. The air layer controls
Fumes and fine particles that collect at street level along busy roads.
What works: Cleaner engines, less idling, and more trips by train, bike or on foot.
Plumes from stacks that spread into a wide grey haze downwind.
What works: Scrubbers and filters on stacks, cleaner generation, and rules that put a price on emissions.
Smoke and gases from heating and cooking that settle low on still evenings.
What works: Efficient electric heating, good ventilation and a well sealed, insulated home.
Bushfire smoke and ozone that build on hot, still days and tint the whole sky.
What works: Watching published air quality readings, and cutting the fumes that feed smog on hot days.
The facts
Know what is in the air
Six explainers that name the layers: what each pollutant is, where it comes from and how it is measured.
- PM2.5
What PM2.5 Particles Actually Are
PM2.5 refers to particles smaller than two and a half microns across, roughly thirty times finer than a human hair. They form from combustion, dust and chemical reactions in the atmosphere...
- O3
Why Ground Level Ozone Forms on Hot Days
Ground level ozone is not emitted directly. It forms when sunlight drives a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, both common in vehicle exhaust and...
- NOx
Understanding Nitrogen Oxides From Traffic
Nitrogen oxides form whenever fuel burns at high temperature in the presence of air, which describes almost any internal combustion engine. Nitrogen and oxygen, both normally stable and...
- VOCs
How Volatile Organic Compounds Affect Air
Volatile organic compounds, often shortened to VOCs, are carbon based chemicals that evaporate easily at room temperature. They are released from sources as varied as paints, solvents...
- AQI
How Air Quality Index Numbers Are Calculated
An air quality index takes readings for several pollutants, such as fine particles, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, and converts each into a common scale. Whichever pollutant scores worst on a...
- Standards
Understanding Air Quality Standards and Monitoring
Air quality standards set maximum acceptable concentrations for specific pollutants, such as fine particles, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, based on health research linking exposure levels to...
From the library
The Role of Trees in Cleaning Air
Trees improve air quality in a few distinct ways. Leaves physically intercept airborne particles, which then wash off with rain or fall with the leaf itself, while stomata on leaf surfaces take in certain gaseous pollutants as...
What works
Evidence cards
Pick a chapter, then turn a card to read what the explainer says, in its own first line. Every card opens the full article.
Myths checked: 6 of 26 cards
Act
Six reads for where you are
Choose who is acting. Tick each explainer as you read it; your ticks stay in this browser only.
Start where the bills and the air meet: heating, sealing, the car and the bin.
0 of 6 read
Programs, transport and planting days a school community can run together.
0 of 6 read
Report contents
210 explainers in 8 chapters
How this is written
Explainers, not headlines
Every article here is an evergreen explainer: how a process works, what a rule does, or what a common claim gets right and wrong. This masthead reports on the subject. It does not provide counselling, legal advice or emergency assistance.
Official information
Government environment information is published by its own agencies. They are not run by this masthead.
Australian Government, environment
In an emergency call 000.