World Air High quality Report 2022 highlights air pollution hotspots

A nuanced appraisal emerges from the 2022 World Air High quality report – compiled by Swiss air high quality know-how firm IQAir – which features a dismal image from Africa and the information that solely 5 nations met the WHO limits for PM2.5: Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, and New Zealand.

The report included information from greater than 30,000 air high quality monitoring stations throughout 7,323 areas in 131 nations, territories, and areas (in comparison with 6,475 areas in 117 such areas in 2021), which had been analyzed by the group’s air high quality scientists.

Key findings

• The highest 5 most polluted nations in 2022 had been:

1. Chad (89.7 µg/m³) greater than 17 occasions larger than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline
2. Iraq (80.1 µg/m³) greater than 16 occasions larger than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
3. Pakistan (70.9 µg/m³) greater than 14 occasions larger than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.
4. Bahrain (66.6 µg/m³) greater than 13 occasions larger than the WHO PM2.5 Annual Guideline.
5. Bangladesh (65.8 µg/m³) greater than 13 occasions larger than the WHO PM2.5 annual guideline.

• A complete of 118 (90%) out of 131 nations and areas exceeded the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline worth of 5 µg/m³.
• The area of Central and South Asia was residence to eight of the world’s ten cities with the worst air air pollution.
• Whereas the African continent noticed a rise from 13 nations represented in 2021 to 19 nations included on this 12 months’s report, Africa stays probably the most underrepresented continent. Solely 19 nations out of 54 nations have ample air high quality information.
• Lahore is probably the most polluted metropolitan space of 2022. It ranked #15 in 2021.
• Chile grew to become residence to eight of the area’s prime 15 most polluted cities.

Whereas the variety of nations and areas with air high quality monitoring has steadily elevated over the previous 5 years, there stay vital gaps in government-operated regulatory instrumentation in lots of components of the world. Low-cost air high quality screens sponsored and hosted by citizen scientists, researchers, neighborhood advocates, and native organizations have confirmed to be a helpful software to scale back the large inequalities in air monitoring networks internationally, till sustainable regulatory air high quality monitoring networks may be established.

These unbiased air high quality monitoring stations reveal disproportional publicity to dangerous air air pollution amongst susceptible and underrepresented teams. Obtrusive gaps in air high quality monitoring information, the place air pollution is probably going poor, additional underline the necessity to increase air high quality monitoring protection worldwide.

“In 2022, greater than half of the world’s air high quality information was generated by grassroots neighborhood efforts. When residents get entangled in air high quality monitoring, we see a shift in consciousness and the joint effort to enhance air high quality intensifies. We’d like governments to watch air high quality, however we can not look ahead to them. Air high quality monitoring by communities creates transparency and urgency. It results in collaborative actions that enhance air high quality,” states Frank Hammes, International CEO, IQAir.

“Too many individuals all over the world don’t know that they’re respiratory polluted air. Air air pollution screens present laborious information that may encourage communities to demand change and maintain polluters to account, however when monitoring is patchy or unequal, susceptible communities may be left with no information to behave on. Everybody deserves to have their well being shielded from air air pollution,” states Aidan Farrow, Sr. Air High quality Scientist, Greenpeace Worldwide.

Obtain the complete report right here.