The July 2024, edition of Nature Communications includes a study, “Air pollution impacts from warehousing in the United States uncovered with satellite data,” highlighting the negative impacts of e-commerce and warehousing industries on air quality across the United States. In a comprehensive nationwide study examining traffic, associated air pollution, and environmental equity near warehouses in the contiguous US, researchers found that “nearly 150,000 warehouses in the US worsen local traffic-related air pollution with an average near-warehouse NO2 enhancement of nearly 20% and are disproportionately located in marginalized and minoritized communities.”
Based on the data, the authors recommend a need for “indirect source rules, incentives for replacing old trucks, and corporate commitments towards electrification.”
Click here to read the journal article. For a media article on the study, click here.