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What is The Clean Air Campaign®?
The Clean Air Campaign is a not-for-profit organization that motivates Georgians to take action to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. We focus on both congestion and air quality because they are linked—vehicle emissions are a major contributor to smog formation.
The Clean Air Campaign. . .
- motivates commuters to use other ways to travel to work, events, and school, such as carpooling, teleworking, vanpooling, taking transit, biking and walking. We call these commute alternatives.
- partners with employers to develop customized programs that motivate and make it easier for their employees to use commute alternatives.
- works with schools to educate and involve our next generation of citizens to participate in solutions to our traffic and air pollution problems.
Formed in 1996 by government, business, civic, health, environmental and educational organizations, The Clean Air Campaign is one of 10 organizations in the region implementing strategies that improve mobility, also known as transportation demand management (TDM). The Clean Air Campaign also administers and provides marketing support for regional incentive programs that encourage commuters to use commute alternatives such as carpooling, transit, vanpooling, teleworking, biking and walking.
Funding
The Clean Air Campaign receives 80 percent of its funding from U.S. Department of Transportation Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds. However, the organization can only receive the federal grant money after 20 percent in matching funds have been raised. For this 20 percent, The Clean Air Campaign relies on sponsorships from corporations, state and local sources.
Results
Each day, increased use of commute alternatives in the Atlanta region alone yields:
- 1.4 million vehicle miles of travel eliminated from metro Atlanta roadways -- equal to 56 trips around the Earth
- 700 tons of pollution kept out of the air we breathe
- An estimated $574,000 in reduced fuel, maintenance and repair costs for commuters
- Savings for employers from improved employee morale, productivity and job satisfaction and reduced recruitment and retention costs
And each year, an estimated $30 million of savings in health related costs as a result of improved air quality.
In sum, each dollar invested in the promotion of commute alternatives yields an annual return of $191; almost a 200-to-1 return on investment.*
* The analysis above was derived by quantifying the annual benefits of dollars spent by The Clean Air Campaign, the region’s transportation management associations (TMAs) and RideSmart service as identified in the “2004 Voluntary Mobile Emissions Program Assessment” by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (2005). This analysis is a conservative estimate of savings.