From Knowing to Doing: Operationalizing the 100 Questions for Air Quality Initiative

From 2020 through 2021, World Resources Institute (WRI) and The GovLab worked together on the first steps toward a data investment agenda around societal needs and uses of data for accelerating clean air for all. While much research on air quality, its sources, and its impacts is based on what is possible— what kinds of insights new sensing and analytical approaches enable—our focus was on what is important. As part of the multi-domain 100 Questions Initiative led by The GovLab, we convened 100 atmospheric scientists, policy experts, and data providers from around the world to identify the most important questions in setting a new, high-impact agenda for further investments in data and data science. After an iterative process of sourcing questions, clustering and ranking them through consultations with the expert group, then opening that ranking to a public vote, the question deemed most important was not about health, climate, or more atmospheric science. Rather, it was a question of how we do more with what we already know: "What is the best data strategy for generating political will and getting policymakers to recognize the importance of air pollution control and hence invest in improved governance systems (policies, laws, regulations, and institutions)?"