Abstract:

This report is part of the Equity Framework in Action by World Resource Institute’s (WRI) Electric School Bus (ESB) Initiative. Its purpose is to provide an equity analysis of the geographic distribution of school buses, their fuel types, and their emissions control technology to understand which school districts and which populations are exposed to emissions from the oldest, most polluting school buses, and, conversely, what the socioeconomic characteristics are of the districts that have had early success procuring electric school buses. We seek to answer the following question: are older school buses contributing to the disproportionate burden of transport pollution exposure seen in disadvantaged communities?

To do this, the report provides new analysis of two recently published WRI datasets on ESB adoption and US school bus fleets, drawing on data from the EJScreen tool of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US census, and the American Community Survey. It also provides analyses on emerging trends related to funding opportunities that influence the distribution of ESBs and could be leveraged to enhance equitable adoption.