Air Quality Monitoring at
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games (CWGs) was staged in Birmingham in 2022, bringing over 1 million visitors as well as athletes and volunteers to the Games. The logistics associated with hosting an event of this scale may affect air quality during the Games, but also provides an opportunity to establish a positive legacy for air quality.
A WM-Air Impact Fellow was seconded to the sustainability team of the CWG organising committee to support work on air quality, such as reviewing actions taken to improve air quality at previous Games, supporting development of the Commonwealth Games sustainability strategy to ensure that local air quality is considered alongside their ambitious targets for carbon reduction, providing guidance and expertise for air quality monitoring and data interpretation, including “low cost” sensors, their placement, and interpretation of the data obtained, around key Commonwealth Games locations, and providing evidence to support the use of low emissions vehicles in the CWG fleet.
By providing support on air quality to the Organising Committee, WM-Air ensured that air quality was a key environmental focus of the Games and that any negative impacts of the event were minimised. WM-Air also worked with the Organising Committee to help shape legacy – to maximise the scope for the Games to become a catalyst to inspire behavioural change and provide a lasting air quality impact in Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Resources/News
University scientists help to put hi-tech lungs into Birmingham Baton >>
Commonwealth Games 2022: Queen’s baton to travel 90,000 miles around the world >>
All the daily air quality briefing can be found here >>
B2022 Sustainability Report >>
CWG Carbon Literacy Training Course >>
