Air pollution kills 7 million a year, says WHO as it tightens guidelines

The global health body has issued new air quality recommendations for the first time since 2005, hoping to promote clean energy and prevent deaths and illness

But scientists fear some countries will have trouble implementing them, given that much of the world has failed to meet the older, less stringent standards

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Smog obscures the view of Tehran from the Saad Abad mountain north of the Iranian capital in January. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:44am, 23 Sep 2021Updated: 8:27pm, 23 Sep 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) tightened its air quality guidelines on Wednesday for the first time since 2005, hoping to spur countries toward clean energy and prevent deaths and illness caused by air pollution.

The new recommendations targeting pollutants including particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, both of which are found in fossil fuel emissions, could save “millions of lives”, it said.

Air pollution kills at least 7 million people prematurely each year. Even at very low levels, research has shown “air pollution affects all parts of the body, from the brain to a growing baby in a mother’s womb”, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.

The United Nations body hopes the revisions encourage their 194 member countries toward actions that slash fossil fuel emissions, which are also driving climate change. Globally, countries are under pressure to pledge bold emissions-cutting plans ahead of the UN climate conference in November in Glasgow, Scotland.

Scientists applauded the new guidelines, but worried that some countries would have trouble implementing them, given that much of the world was failing to meet the older, less stringent standards.