Greater Houston is designated as a non-attainment area under the federal Clean Air Act. A complex interaction of regional factors - petrochemical production and petroleum refining, urban sprawl that increases automobile miles traveled, and meteorological conditions - contributes to one of the most intractable air quality problems in the country.

Inextricably tied to air emissions is the mounting evidence linking human activity to global climate change. As an international energy capital, Houston finds itself as a central actor in the dialog on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

HARC's Air Quality & Climate Program includes efforts in several areas: air quality research and management; air emissions technologies; urban heat island mitigation planning; scenario building for transportation and air quality; the links between air quality and human health; air quality and the built environment; and regional impacts and solutions related to climate change.

HARC is helping Texas improve the science behind its air quality policymaking through its role as Research Management Organization to the Texas Environmental Research Consortium. This initiative has become a nationally recognized process by which key economic, environmental, and political stakeholders in the greater Houston and Dallas regions work with the research community to better understand regional air science, speed the adoption of air emissions control technologies, and make informed policy decisions.