When communities are asked to trust that environmental projects will improve conditions for their neighborhoods, predictions alone are not enough. Associate Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability’s (IoES) Center for Clean Air and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences Yifang Zhu believes the most effective way to build trust is through data.
“Let the data speak about the impact,” Zhu said, “not just people's imaginations.”
Zhu studies indoor and outdoor air pollution, with much of her work focused on environmental justice. She combines laboratory experiments, field measurements, and modeling to identify pollution sources, understand how pollutants move through the environment, and what exposures mean for human health.
Through UCLA’s longstanding partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Zhu has applied her research to help the country’s largest municipal utility achieve its clean energy goals while ensuring the benefits are shared equitably across Los Angeles.
When LADWP adopted LA100, its plan to transition the United States’ second largest city to 100% renewable energy by 2035, Zhu was part of an interdisciplinary team of UCLA researchers who worked on LA100 Equity Strategies (LA100 ES), a two-year study that looked at how LADWP could implement its ambitious goals without perpetuating social, racial, and economic injustices.
Air Pollution and the Energy Transition
Since then, Zhu has continued collaborating with LADWP to apply her air-pollution research and provide LADWP with key information on how zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) adoption affects air quality across Los Angeles.
Are benefits localized? If so, how localized? Do areas with higher ZEV adoption experience cleaner air than surrounding areas?
“I think this [research] is really a perfect match to align with DWP’s mission,” Zhu said. Fossil fuel combustion contributes to both climate change and air pollution. Replacing gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles with ZEVs therefore addresses both problems.
One pollutant Zhu focused on was PM2.5, or particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller. These extremely small particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, where they contribute to serious health problems. While many people assume that the benefits of ZEV adoption remain near where vehicles are purchased, Zhu's research shows that the air quality benefits extend well beyond those neighborhoods.
“It doesn't really matter too much where the ZEVs get adopted,” she said.
Wealthier communities tend to adopt electric vehicles earlier, which could initially seem like a barrier to achieving environmental justice. However, because the vehicles do not stay in the neighborhoods where they are purchased, the emission benefits extend throughout the city.
At the same time, communities located near major roads continue to experience disproportionate pollution burdens. Zhu found that one of the greatest opportunities for meaningful benefits to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by air pollution over the years comes from electrifying medium- and heavy-duty vehicles—particularly diesel trucks—which contribute significantly to pollution in communities near major transportation corridors.
Learning From Communities
For Zhu, one of the most important outcomes of LA100 ES was not just what she earned from the data, but what she learned from the communities involved in the project.
LA100 ES included extensive community workshops and engagement, giving residents opportunities to discuss the project and share their experiences. For Zhu, this changed how she thinks about research and made her more interested in proactively involving communities in her work.
Those conversations reinforced that researchers cannot always capture everything through models. For example, residents may not know that electric vehicle incentives exist or may struggle to navigate the paperwork required to access them. Understanding those barriers can be just as important as understanding the technical potential for ZEV adoption.
“I think, at least from my end, I feel like through that process, I really… appreciate more about just how communities have to have a say in this decision-making process,” she said.
The relationship between researchers and communities is therefore not simply about researchers bringing information to the public; communities can also provide researchers with perspective that shapes the research itself, bringing to light dimensions that might not have been considered before.
The Power of the Partnership
Although Zhu has worked with many agencies and stakeholders throughout her career, she particularly values having a local source that lets researchers work directly on problems facing Los Angeles.
“Utility and University partnership is pretty unique, but I think it's a really good model,” Zhu said.
The partnership combines UCLA's scientific expertise with LADWP's experience implementing large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. Together, they create opportunities to move beyond predicting environmental benefits and begin measuring what actually happens as Los Angeles transitions toward cleaner energy.
One possibility is to establish community air-monitoring networks that measure PM2.5, PM10, and other pollutants across neighborhoods with different levels of ZEV adoption. These measurements would allow researchers to compare real-world changes with modeled predictions.
Zhu also sees opportunities to evaluate future investments in EV charging infrastructure. Federal funding cuts have slowed its development, potentially creating a gap that local institutions like LADWP could help address. UCLA researchers could identify where new charging stations would have the greatest impact and then evaluate whether those investments deliver the expected environmental benefits.
Similarly, LADWP's planned conversion of the Scattergood Generating Station from natural gas to hydrogen presents an opportunity to conduct before-and-after air-quality assessments. Direct measurements could help determine whether the conversion improves local air quality while providing nearby communities with transparent information about the project's impacts.
The 2028 Olympics offer another unique opportunity. With major changes expected in transportation and the deployment of zero-emission buses, researchers could monitor air quality before, during, and after the Games to better understand how transportation interventions affect urban air quality.
Research Data and Accountability
For Zhu, collecting data is ultimately about more than measuring pollution. It is also about building trust.
She has carried this philosophy into her 2025 Los Angeles urban wildfire research as well. Following the Palisades fires, her team established a community air-monitoring network that provided residents with direct access to local air-quality information while helping researchers better understand environmental conditions during recovery.
Whether studying zero-emission vehicles or wildfire smoke, she believes communities deserve objective evidence about how environmental changes affect the air they breathe.