JCDecaux SA announced that it has partnered with Microsoft Research’s Urban Innovation Group and the Array of Things team to launch an air quality sensor pilot on 100 bus shelters in Chicago, in order to monitor precisely air quality across the city and facilitate adapted environmental measures. The World Health Organization estimates that 91% of the world’s population live in places where air quality exceeds guideline limits. Air pollution is a major concern for cities, given its consequences for human health and the environment. However, it is critical for urban areas to assess air quality on a real-time basis to be able to formulate policies to address these challenges. By using environmental sensors, cities can radically increase the geographic granularity of environmental sensing in support of creating solutions to improve everyday air quality in the urban environment for a variety of public health scenarios. As a partner to 3,670 cities around the world, JCDecaux is innovating continuously not only to limit the environmental impact of its activities but also to develop solutions for sustainable cities. For its pilot program in Chicago, JCDecaux installed 100 air quality sensors on its bus shelters specially designed for the City by the architect Robert A.M. Stern, across the wards of Chicago, to measure and record air quality, temperature, and humidity across the city and throughout various weather conditions and seasonality. With these environmental sensors, Chicago, a global smart city, will be able to collect precise data and fine tune with the objective of improving air quality and the quality of life of its inhabitants. The data will be accessible to the public on smartphones by scanning a QR code on each bus shelter referring to a website, designed by Microsoft Research, to provide the public with easily understood information from the air sensor data collected (at each location as well as in comparison to other locations: https://urban.microsoft.com/air/city/chicago). This information will also be fed into the Chicago Open Data portal: https://data.cityofchicago.org JCDecaux has long pursued a policy of responsible innovation and has already developed programs providing air quality measurement in other countries, including France (Nice) and Japan (Tokyo). The Group has also recently launched a range of new-generation bus shelters, including Filtreo®, with its roof made of a carpet of moss that captures and absorbs pollutants providing cleaner air to passengers, and a natural cooling bus shelter, offering a solution to the urban heat islands. Key Figures for JCDecaux: 2020 revenue: €2,312m; Present in 3,670 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants; A daily audience of more than 840 million people in more than 80 countries; 10,230 employees; Leader in self-service bike rental scheme: pioneer in eco-friendly mobility; 1st Out-of-Home Media company to join the RE100 (committed to 100% renewable energy); JCDecaux is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris and is part of the Euronext 100 and Euronext Family Business indexes; JCDecaux is recognised for its extra-financial performance in the FTSE4Good (4.6/5) and CDP (A Leadership) rankings, and has obtained the MSCI AAA score for the 4th year in a row; 964,760 advertising panels worldwide; N°1 worldwide in street furniture (489,500 advertising panels); N°1 worldwide in transport advertising with 156 airports and 249 contracts in metros, buses, trains and tramways (329,790 advertising panels); N°1 in Europe for billboards (129,970 advertising panels); N°1 in outdoor advertising in Europe (615,530 advertising panels); N°1 in outdoor advertising in Asia-Pacific (216,590 advertising panels); N°1 in outdoor advertising in Latin America (66,120 advertising panels); N°1 in outdoor advertising in Africa (22,500 advertising panels); N°1 in outdoor advertising in the Middle East (15,350 advertising panels).