Would Zohran Mamdani strengthen air quality monitoring as New York Mayor?

On Wednesday June 25th 2025, Zohran Mamdani’s surprise win in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary has put him on the path to City Hall. 

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblymember from Queens, centred his campaign on affordability, but his environmentalism was a key thread throughout the race. 

While lowering prices was the headline of his platform (with plans to freeze rents, provide free childcare, and make transit free), each policy is supposedly designed with green benefits in mind. 

His victory, powered by an army of over 40,000 volunteers, signals broad support for this integrated vision of economic relief and environmental justice.

Even his call for free universal childcare has an anti-air pollution angle: by helping young families stay in the city rather than flee to car-dependent suburbs, it keeps more people in high-density, low-emission communities. 

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Assemblyman from Asthma Alley 

Part of Mamdani’s record in office is a commitment to clean air and environmental justice, informed by his experience representing Astoria, Queens. 

In his district, home to aging power plants and heavy industry, residents have long suffered some of the city’s worst air quality.

“For far too long, Astoria has been labelled Asthma Alley and held the distinction of having the worst air quality in all of Queens,” Mamdani lamented, pledging to “turn the page on that chapter” by shifting to renewable energy and greener infrastructure. 

As an Assembly Member, Mamdani was a key organiser in defeating a proposed fracked-gas power plant in Astoria by NRG Energy in 2021. 

He rallied thousands of residents to submit comments and postcards against the project, ultimately helping pressure state officials to reject it. 

Building on that victory, Mamdani became the prime sponsor of the Clean Futures Act in the legislature – a bill to ban all new gas-fired power plants state-wide. 

While that act hasn’t yet become law, it underscores Mamdani’s determination to halt the expansion of polluting fossil fuel infrastructure in order to improve air quality and public health.

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On the frontline

Mamdani has also aligned himself with communities in other fights against air pollution. 

He supported the successful campaign to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan, a policy aimed at reducing traffic gridlock and tailpipe emissions in the city’s most polluted corridors. 

He has spoken out against a proposed expansion of the fracked-gas Iroquois pipeline, which would increase capacity (and emissions) at compressor stations and deliver more fossil gas into NYC.

Mamdani vowed to urge the state to block the project, recognising that it threatens both the climate and local air quality. 

Low-emission transit

Transportation is one of New York’s largest sources of both greenhouse gases and harmful local air pollution, and Mamdani’s plans for transit are partly aimed at reducing this pollution.

As a state assemblymember, he championed a fare-free bus pilot that launched in 2022. 

The results were striking: ridership on those routes jumped by about 30% on weekdays (38% on weekends), and 11% of new riders chose the bus over driving a car or taking a taxi, indicating that free transit can entice people out of private vehicles. 

Fast, fare-free buses form the cornerstone of his transit plan, which also includes building many more bus priority lanes and cracking down on double-parked cars that slow down routes.

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Preparing for air quality emergencies

One test of any air quality policy platform in an urban context is how it handles acute pollution events, not just the chronic sources. 

In June 2023, Canadian wildfire smoke enveloped New York City, sending PM2.5 levels skyrocketing and giving the city the worst air quality in the world for several days. 

The episode exposed just how unprepared NYC is for extreme air pollution events - a reality that climate change is likely to make more frequent.

So far, Mamdani hasn’t proposed a stand-alone wildfire smoke response plan but key elements of his platform implicitly lay the groundwork for a better response. 

His 'Green, Healthy Schools' plan would convert 50 school buildings into disaster resilience hubs – safe, air-conditioned, solar-powered sites with backup energy systems and emergency supplies. 

These hubs could serve as clean-air shelters during pollution spikes or heatwaves, particularly in underserved neighbourhoods. 

Still, this is a space where Mamdani’s campaign could go further. 

As mayor, he would be well-positioned to establish a citywide air quality emergency protocol: clear AQI thresholds that trigger public alerts, N95 mask distribution, HEPA filter deployment to schools and libraries, and temporary shelter operations. 

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School-based monitoring

Mamdani’s signature climate initiative as a candidate has been his 'Green, Healthy Schools for a Healthier New York City' plan. 

This comprehensive proposal embodies his approach of linking climate action to everyday quality of life improvements. 

The plan calls for three major projects: renovating 500 public school buildings (over a quarter of NYC’s schools) with solar panels and modern energy-efficient HVAC systems, building 500 green schoolyards to replace heat-trapping asphalt with trees and gardens, and creating 50 resilience hubs in school facilities across the city. 

By outfitting schools with rooftop solar arrays and phasing out their old polluting boilers, the plan would cut carbon emissions and ensure cleaner air indoors and out. 

Many school buildings still have environmental hazards like lead paint, asbestos, or mould; Mamdani’s investment would remediate these issues and provide healthier learning environments for the 900,000+ students in the system. 

At the same time, greener schoolyards would expand urban green space (mitigating air pollution and urban heat) while giving kids safe places to play. 

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Tightening emissions regulations

Beyond schools, his platform calls for expanding renewable energy generation on public lands and city-owned properties, leveraging the state’s public power authority to build clean energy projects in NYC. 

He supports aggressively implementing and strengthening Local Law 97 – the city’s building emissions law – by helping landlords finance energy retrofits and enforcing emissions cuts rather than allowing loopholes or easy offsets. 

To accelerate progress, Mamdani says he will extend renovation tax incentives (like the J-51 program) for green retrofits and boost funding to programs like the NYC Accelerator, which guides building owners in cutting energy use.