In the wake of increasingly threatening air quality from extreme weather events such as the LA wildfires, Our Common Air is striving to mobilize attention, financing and political backing to protect global health, economies and climate. To find out more, Meteorological Technology International sits down with Christa Hasenkopf, commissioner of Our Common Air and director of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago (EPIC) and the co-founder and former CEO of OpenAQ – an open-source platform of air quality data.
Tell us more about Our Common Air and why it was established.
Air pollution in the form of fine particulate matter (e.g. smoke and dust) is the world’s largest contributor to human disease and death. This health toll translates into a huge economic cost to the planet; the World Bank estimates that 6.1% of global GDP, equivalent to US$8.1tn a year, is lost due to health damages by air pollution.
Given air pollution’s outsized health and economic impacts, there is surprisingly little strategic organizing on the issue at the global level. The Clean Air Fund estimates that less than 1% of international development funding has been committed to targeting air pollution over the last six years.
(The previous two statistics on the economic impact and the funding can be found here.)
Our Common Air is an independent global commission of high-level government figures, health experts, academics and climate change specialists who are working to catalyze and accelerate global collective action on air pollution.
Where are some of the biggest gaps in global air quality data?
While we have a pretty good broad sense of global air quality using satellite information to estimate air quality, it is not a replacement for on-the-ground monitoring.
For one, estimates of air quality derived from satellites also rely on ground measurements, which are still considered the gold standard for monitoring air. So, if there are no ground measurements in a region, that can affect the accuracy of those estimates.
Even more importantly, national and local policies on air pollution are not usually set by satellite-derived data. Instead, they are set by continuous ground monitor readings that can provide a lot more granular temporal and spatial picture of air quality.
Air quality data gaps are an issue in much of Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia where there is a lack of public air quality ground monitoring data across entire countries.
Recently, we at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (separate from Our Common Air) published a report analyzing which countries have the biggest data gaps, yet also the biggest air pollution problem (in terms of PM2.5 pollution), as well as lack the resources to address the issue.
At the top of our list of where there is the greatest opportunity to address air pollution data gaps in the places that need it most are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Honduras.
In all in our reports, we identify 46 countries where there are especially high opportunities for relatively small investments to support local actors in building the necessary data infrastructure to advance policy that reduces PM2.5 pollution. Overall, 838 million citizens in these 46 high-opportunity countries breathe air with PM2.5 levels that are four times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. In total, 61% of high-opportunity countries are located in Africa, 22% are in Asia, 15% are in Latin America and 2% are in Europe. Meanwhile, across all of these 46 countries, there are only 30 government-run PM2.5 monitors. In comparison, the country of Finland, one of the few countries that already meets the WHO guideline for PM2.5, has more monitors for its population, despite being substantially smaller than those 46 countries (1/152th the size to be precise).
Why is a global air quality database necessary?
A global air quality database that categorizes national-level air quality – especially PM2.5, which has an outsized impact on human health relative to other common air pollutants – is a needed basic building block to establish the state of global air quality, to build a strategic plan for advocating and disbursing funds geographically, and ultimately gauge progress.
Currently, there is no comprehensive, up-to-date global air quality database for air pollution, yet other major global health issues such as HIV/AIDS and malaria have made progress by having just such an annually recurring report on country-level progress. Page 11 of this Our Common Air doc also outlines several reasons why a global air quality database is important.
How could a global air quality database be created?
Philosophically, a couple of principles would need to be in place to create a global air quality database. First, the database should truly be global – no country should be left out. Second, such an effort should be done in a fully open-source transparent way, and in a way that incentivizes countries to lead the way in generating their own data and using models to estimate their national-level air pollution levels. As part of that, the effort would need to find ways to offer financial resources to countries that do not yet have the full capability to generate such estimates.
Technically, such an air quality database would require meshing satellite data with available ground monitoring data, and this would require both convening a committee of geographically representative scientific experts to develop best practices for countries to use, as well as to help countries self-assess what they need to advance their capacity to contribute to the database.
Logistically, an existing international entity or group of entities would need to stand up to lead these data-gathering and capacity-building efforts – to both house and coordinate them. Several UN agencies could be appropriate, from the WHO to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). International, regional and bilateral finance and development organizations would need to help finance the efforts, especially to support countries that do not yet have the capacity gain adequate resources.
What are some of the key challenges standing in the way of a global air quality database?
Setting up an up-to-date global air quality database for countries around the world is largely not a technical challenge. I would argue that it is also not a huge financial challenge, either – certainly given the scale of the issue compared to the funding it would take to launch such an effort. The main challenge is organizing relevant global partners and spurring them to prioritize creating such a database. This is the type of initiative that international organizations would ideally lead, given their unique abilities to engage with government entities and their existing partnerships.
Are more on-the-ground air quality monitoring stations needed?
Yes! The non-profit OpenAQ estimates that 39% of countries don’t have public air quality data. Yet, a lack of data makes it hard to engage the public on the issue, create policy or gauge progress, let alone attract resources. Meanwhile, research shows that when air quality data is made open, pollution ultimately declines over a period of four or more years.
Could low-cost air quality sensors be linked up with weather networks for easy deployment?
There is value in deploying larger networks of lower-cost air quality sensors – and attaching them to already existing environmental sensing systems, like weather networks. However, there needs to be a reliable way to calibrate the networks.
Which countries/regions are leading the way when it comes to air quality monitoring?
Several countries and regions lead in different ways. China has expanded its air quality monitoring rapidly over the past decade – perhaps faster and at a larger scale than any other country. India has also expanded its fleet of monitors, though many secondary cities and towns are not yet covered. The USA and EU have had long-standing air quality monitoring efforts and have progressively made their data more fully open and in multiple ways to their citizens and the world at large. Meanwhile, there are exciting, innovative efforts across the African continent to scale monitoring. For example, the non-profit AirQo based in Uganda is helping communities launch lower-cost sensing efforts in multiple countries.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Separate from Our Common Air, we at EPIC have launched a new fund to support local actors in deploying air quality monitors (low-cost or reference grade) precisely in places that lack data, experience severe air pollution and have historically lacked resources for the issue.
For more of the top insights into the future of air quality monitoring, read Meteorological Technology International exclusive feature, “Air Quality Crackdown”, here.
