By Abbas Nazil
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has expressed concern over rising global air pollution, warning of its severe impact on human health, the environment, and the climate.
In its latest Air Quality and Climate Bulletin released on September 5, 2025, WMO experts highlighted that microscopic smoke particles from wildfires are increasingly travelling across continents, worsening pollution and contributing to over 4.5 million premature deaths annually.
According to Lorenzo Labrador, a WMO Scientific Officer, “air quality respects no boundaries.”
He explained that smoke and pollutants from the record-breaking wildfire season in the Iberian Peninsula had already been detected across Western Europe and could spread further across the continent.
The bulletin presented data showing the persistence of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with high concentrations recorded in wildfire-affected regions including Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Canada, Central Africa, and Siberia.
The findings underscored a troubling global trend of worsening air quality aggravated by climate change, as wildfires become longer and more intense each year.
Despite the grim outlook, the report acknowledged some progress.
Emissions reductions in regions such as eastern China and Europe have led to improvements in air quality, largely due to policies encouraging electric vehicles, planting trees, and creating green spaces.
WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis noted that in cities like Shanghai, despite heavy traffic, the growing adoption of electric cars has contributed to cleaner air.
Paolo Laj, Head of WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch Programme, stressed that when governments and cities take decisive action, results are visible.
However, he cautioned that most cities worldwide still fall short of the UN World Health Organisation’s recommended air quality standards, leaving air pollution as a major public health concern.
While emissions of pollutants like sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) have declined due to stronger controls, ground-level ozone levels remain a problem.
Laj explained that global warming plays a role since ozone is formed through chemical reactions in the atmosphere that require sunlight, linking climate change directly to smog formation.
The bulletin emphasised that air quality and climate change are deeply interconnected and must be addressed together.
WMO Deputy Secretary-General, Ko Barrett, warned that tackling them separately would undermine efforts to safeguard communities, economies, and ecosystems.
The UN is also driving initiatives to combat household air pollution, which poses one of the greatest health risks globally, especially for children.
Martina Otto of UNEP’s Climate and Clean Air Coalition stressed that affordable cleaner cooking technologies are already available and saving lives but must be scaled up to reach more households.
At the intergovernmental level, action is supported by the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, known as the Air Convention.
Since its adoption in 1979, it has helped improve air quality across Europe and North America, saving an estimated 600,000 lives annually and adding a year to life expectancy in some regions.
However, experts say further strengthening of pollution reduction measures is still needed.
Other regions, including East and South Asia and South America, are now studying the Air Convention model to adapt it to their contexts.
International cooperation, through platforms like the Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution, is expanding to ensure the lessons from the last 45 years of progress guide future strategies.
The WMO remarked that while recent successes show improvements are possible, urgent, coordinated global action is required to curb air pollution, address its connection to climate change, and protect public health.