Asian countries remained on the back foot in managing air pollution last year, with none managing to meet air quality standards outlined by the World Health Organisation, a new report has shown.
Only Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia and Iceland made the grade, figures compiled by Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir have shown.
Meanwhile, countries in Central and South Asia continued to see some of the worst air pollution in the world and the region was home to five of the 10 most polluted countries and nine of the 10 most polluted cities globally.
Also on AF: Fossil Fuels Are OK, US Energy Secretary Tells Africans
Bangladesh and Pakistan were the second and third most-polluted countries in the world, according to IQAir’s figures.
India — the world’s most populous country — was the fifth-most polluted. Its capital, New Delhi, was the world’s most polluted capital city.
“Nearly one-third of cities” in Central and South Asia “recorded annual PM2.5 concentrations exceeding ten times the WHO guideline, posing a severe health risk to millions,” IQAir said in its report.
PM2.5 stands for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres — or less than one-thirtieth the width of a human hair. That is small enough to travel deep into the lungs and even enter the blood stream.
Major pollution sources in the region included vehicular emissions, industrial discharges, construction dust, and widespread burning of biomass for heating and agriculture.
The Indo-Gangetic Plain remains a pollution hotspot, where meteorological factors trap pollutants and exacerbate winter smog, the report added.
Major challenges for India
India was also home to the most polluted metropolitan area of 2024 — Byrnihat, an industrial city in the state of Meghalaya. Six of the world’s ten most polluted cities were in India, according to the IQAir report.
Persistent air pollution continues to reduce life expectancy for Indians by an estimated 5.2 years, it added. Crop stubble burning was a major contributor to PM2.5 levels in north India, accounting for 60% of pollution during peak periods.
Overall, 35% of Indian cities reported annual PM2.5 averages exceeding ten times the WHO guideline.
That’s despite a marginal decrease in PM2.5 concentrations in the country, with a 7% decline last year. India’s ranking as the fifth most polluted spot was also a small improvement from its third place in 2023.
India’s continuing battle with air pollution faces several challenges, IQAir noted. “Despite governmental measures, such as the National Clean Air Programme aiming to reduce pollution levels, challenges persist due to inconsistent policy implementation and inadequate infrastructure,” it said.
India also remains on the backfoot in regard to tackling vehicular carbon emissions, which — according to IQAir — have been exacerbated by traffic congestion and fuel adulteration. The country has been slow to adopt electric vehicles, due to a lack of charging infrastructure and high purchase prices, worsened by massive import duties on EVs.
Adding to challenges for the country, its renewables push is facing obstacles. Reuters reported last week that India’s renewable energy sector is facing weak demand for tenders, power agreement delays and project cancellations.
“Delays in project implementation pose a significant challenge to India’s renewable energy target for 2030,” one researcher told Reuters.
India has already fallen short of its previous goal of adding 175 GW by 2022, with fossil fuels accounting for more than two-thirds of the total power generation last year.
Mixed report on other Asian regions
Over in East Asia, air quality remained mixed, with annual average PM2.5 concentrations decreasing in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, but increasing in Mongolia, Macau, and Hong Kong.
Air quality in Japan was the best across Asia. Meanwhile, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo reported lower annual averages. Seoul, the South Korean capital, reported its lowest annual average PM2.5 concentration in eight years.
Improvements in China came as the Xi Jinping-led government continued to tighten its national PM2.5 targets and prioritise key areas for reducing pollution and smog.
Still, major sources of air pollution in China include dust storms, coal production, cement manufacturing, and transportation, IQAir noted.
In Southeast Asia and West Asia, meanwhile, air quality showed slight improvement. Indonesia remained the most polluted country in Southeast Asia, while Singapore remained the least polluted.
In West Asia, the United Arab Emirates continued to rank among the most polluted countries globally.
Trump trouble
Overall, Chad was the world’s most polluted countries in 2024, with average smog levels more than 15 times higher than WHO guidelines.
Researchers warn that the war on smog would only get harder after the Donald Trump-led United States government shut down its global monitoring efforts.
Significant data gaps, especially in Asia and Africa, cloud the worldwide picture, and many developing countries have relied on air quality sensors mounted on US embassy and consulate buildings to track their smog levels.
The US State Department, however, recently ended the scheme, citing budget constraints, with more than 17 years of data removed last week from the US government’s official air quality monitoring site, airnow.gov.
“Most countries have a few other data sources, but it’s going to impact Africa significantly, because oftentimes these are the only sources of publicly available real-time air quality monitoring data,” Christi Chester-Schroeder, IQAir’s air quality science manager, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Climate change is playing an increasing role in driving up pollution, Chester-Schroeder warned, with higher temperatures causing fiercer and lengthier forest fires that swept through parts of Southeast Asia and South America.
The warning comes at a time when Trump and his cabinet members have repeatedly said they do not believe in climate change. Trump has also pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement, cancelled US global climate finance and severed international partnerships on climate.
Last month the Trump Administration also stopped the participation of US scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is now also considering cancelling the lease of the support office for a renowned Hawaiian climate research station established in 1956.
Trump’s cuts to USAID will also nearly “decimate” the flow of global climate finance from the developed world, The Guardian reported.
With regards to air quality monitors, at least 34 countries will lose access to reliable pollution data due to the closure of US programmes, Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Clean Air Program at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC), said.
“(It) is a giant blow to air quality efforts worldwide,” she said.
- Vishakha Saxena
Also read:
Carbon Capture Costlier Than Full Switch to Renewables: Study
China’s Fuel Demand Set For Sustained Declines Amid EV Boom
Spending on Global Energy Transition Well Under What’s Needed
Energy Emissions Set to Peak But ‘Not in Time’ For Climate Goals
Booming Solar Puts 2030 Renewable Energy Goals ‘Within Reach’
Hottest-Ever January Extends Streak Breaching 1.5C Threshold
2024 Was China’s Warmest Year Since 1961, Shanghai Roasted
Floods or Drought: Climate Change Worsens Global Water Woes
Continuing Rise of Methane Emissions Worrying Top Scientists
Oil And Gas Sector Way Off Net Zero Track: S&P Global
Green Investment Hindered by Poor Demand For Low-Carbon Products
