ABSTRACT
The challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global one, and it is important to make efforts to decrease combustion processes in all countries. At the same time, it is also important to take into consideration the particular circumstances of different areas, because the specific needs and opportunities can vary by region. Improving air quality has local and regional challenges and it is possible for a metropolitan area to make significant progress towards reducing emissions in a community. This chapter focuses on three locations – China, London (UK), and Norway – as examples of how to approach this global challenge in different, local ways. China is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and there has been a recent effort to improve air quality in many large cities. Central London is a single city, designated as a low emission zone in 2008, and since then there has been an effort to improve air quality in central London. Norway is a lower-population country that has had an ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality for several years, and has several incentives to encourage citizens to purchase electric vehicles. Improving air quality is an important goal in all three cases, even though their approaches have varied. Norway has made much greater progress than China and London in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
