Aclima, a public benefit corporation specializing in hyperlocal air pollution and greenhouse gas monitoring, is expanding efforts across California under a $27 million state contract that will bring advanced air quality mapping to 64 communities—more than tripling the reach of previous monitoring programs.
“We're going from 19 communities over nine years to 64 in one year,” said Davida Herzl, co-founder and CEO of Aclima, during the June 2025 BSR-Morrison Foerster Perspectives podcast. “This is a step change.”
Aclima’s sensor-equipped vehicle fleets collect second-by-second environmental data across neighborhoods, capturing pollution levels that can vary by up to 10 times between city blocks. That data is then analyzed using artificial intelligence (AI) and provided to cities, states, and corporate partners to inform public health decisions and emissions reduction strategies.
In West Oakland, Aclima’s technology helped community leaders identify diesel particulate matter as a primary source of pollution. Using the data to inform action plans and secure funding, the neighborhood saw a 54% reduction in cancer rates and improvements in childhood asthma outcomes over time.
“These are lives we’re talking about,” Herzl said. “This is not some abstract number. These are human beings who, at the end of the day, get to live.”
Aclima’s peer-reviewed research—developed in collaboration with Google, EDF, and UT Austin—confirmed that air pollutant levels vary dramatically within short distances, with concentrations fluctuating by a factor of 6-10 times. The U.S. EPA has also validated Aclima’s mobile data approach, demonstrating high accuracy with significantly better spatial resolution than traditional monitors.
Herzl emphasized that Aclima’s work is about more than emissions data—it's about health equity and accountability. In addition to traditional pollutants measured by the EPA, Aclima tracks toxics, heavy metals, and localized emissions not often captured in standard federal datasets.
When Southern California wildfires burned homes and infrastructure, Aclima data revealed lingering toxins unmeasured by conventional tools. “People were told the air was safe days later—but it wasn’t,” Herzl noted.
Additionally, demographic research using Aclima data in the Bay Area found that Hispanic and Black communities experienced 8–30% higher exposure to pollutants like black carbon, NO₂, and ultrafine particles—a stark indicator of environmental injustice.
To implement California’s monitoring plans efficiently, Aclima used AI-assisted planning tools to develop tailored strategies for each of the 64 communities, speeding up deployment while maintaining human oversight.
“AI doesn’t replace our people—it supplements them,” Herzl said. “It accelerates the work but always with a human in the loop.”
Aclima advocates for “open, legible AI” models to ensure transparency in decision-making about public resources, especially when the outcomes affect health and equity.
Herzl, a trained lawyer who founded Aclima after researching outdated legal frameworks, believes that business can—and should—drive public good.
“Every dollar we make should be a symbol of our impact,” she said. “When businesses are given the data, most want to be good neighbors.”
That philosophy is guiding Aclima’s next chapter: scaling its technology nationwide and globally while centering community voices and public health. The company has already mapped emissions in over 60 cities worldwide via Google Street View and recently completed regional campaigns in New York.
For Herzl, the most powerful climate innovation may not be technological.
“What gives me hope is my team,” she said. “Their tenacity, their commitment to doing the hard work, is what convinces me that change is possible.”
Aclima’s California expansion offers a blueprint: science-based, AI-enhanced, and community-led. By aligning environmental data with public health and equity, it demonstrates that next-generation governance is possible.
