WMO Press conference 06 September 2023

Worsening air quality through heatwaves - WMO

Climate change is having a measurable impact on air quality and therefore human health, meaning the two must be tackled together, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.

“This record-breaking summer sets the scene for the fact that we are seeing more extreme heat, we are seeing more heatwaves. This does have an impact on human health and on air quality,” said Clare Nullis, WMO spokesperson, at a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva.

The 2023 WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin noted that high temperatures are not only a hazard by themselves, but they also trigger damaging pollution.

“The coincidence of high temperature and high levels of particulate matter, such as from forest fires or desert dusts, poses a dangerous health risk for large parts of the population in the world,” stressed Lorenzo Labrador, WMO scientific officer.

Echoing that message, Ms. Nullis noted that global sea surface temperatures were “unprecedented” while Antarctic sea ice was “unprecedentedly low for this time of year”.

In addition, August was the hottest on record “by a big margin. It’s the second hottest month ever and this follows July 2023 which was the hottest month on record.”

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heatwaves. Smoke from wildfires contain chemicals that affect not only air quality and health, but also damage plants, ecosystems and crops.

“The lengthy heatwave in September of 2022 over the northwestern United States, which correlated with large wildfires and a significant degradation in air quality over the region,” said Mr. Labrador.

He added that “during July 2022, a heatwave was observed across Europe, where hundreds of air quality monitoring sites exceeded the World Health Organization ozone air quality guide lined level of a hundred milligrams per meter cube for an eight-hour exposure.”

WMO pointed out in their report that people who live and work in cities experience the most intense conditions when it comes to heat since they are surrounded by tall buildings.

“Air quality and climate change should be studied not as separate subjects but should be studied together”, according to WMO’s Mr. Labrador. “They are inseparable in the sense that many of the gases that are responsible for climate change are also emitted by the same sources that cause air pollution. Furthermore, there is an intricate link in the set of chemical reactions whereby atmospheric pollutants are produced in part from global greenhouse gases.”

WMO released its report ahead of Thursday’s International Day of Clean Air for blue skies.

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