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Ranked: The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities on Earth

Published

4 months ago

June 4, 2023

Selin Oğuz

Article/Editing:

Bruno Venditti

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

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Ranked: The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities on Earth

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on real assets and resource megatrends each week.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits.

In the above map, we use 2022 average PM2.5 concentrations from IQAir’s World Air Quality Report to visualize the most air-polluted major cities in the world.

World’s Air Pollution Hot Spots

As one of the standard air quality indicators used by the WHO, the PM2.5 concentration refers to the quantity of fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less in a given volume of air.

Fine particulate matter that is this small can penetrate the lungs when inhaled and enter the bloodstream, affecting all major organs.

Based on annual average PM2.5 concentrations (μg/m³) in 2022, here are the most polluted cities in the world.

Rank	City	2022 average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³)
1	🇵🇰 Lahore, Pakistan	97.4
2	🇨🇳 Hotan, China	94.3
3	🇮🇳 Bhiwadi, India	92.7
4	🇮🇳 Delhi, India	92.6
5	🇵🇰 Peshawar, Pakistan	91.8
6	🇮🇳 Darbhanga, India	90.3
7	🇮🇳 Asopur, India	90.2
8	🇹🇩 N'Djamena, Chad	89.7
9	🇮🇳 New Delhi, India	89.1
10	🇮🇳 Patna, India	88.9
11	🇮🇳 Ghaziabad, India	88.6
12	🇮🇳 Dharuhera, India	87.8
13	🇮🇶 Baghdad, Iraq	86.7
14	🇮🇳 Chapra, India	85.9
15	🇮🇳 Muzaffarnagar, India	85.5
16	🇵🇰 Faisalabad, Pakistan	84.5
17	🇮🇳 Greater Noida, India	83.2
18	🇮🇳 Bahadurgarh, India	82.2
19	🇮🇳 Faridabad, India	79.7
20	🇮🇳 Muzaffarpur, India	79.2

With numbers these high, the concentration of some or all of the following pollutants are at dangerous levels in these cities:

Ground-level ozone
Particulate matter
Carbon monoxide
Sulfur dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide

At the top of the list, Lahore in Pakistan has a combination of high vehicle and industrial emissions, as well as smoke from brick kilns, crop residue, general waste burning, and dust from construction sites.

Air pollution levels can also be impacted by practices such as large-scale tree removal in order to build new roads and buildings.

As a result of its growing population and rapidly expanding industrial sector, India has 14 cities on the list, outpacing China, formerly considered the world’s number one air pollution source.

The only African country on the list, Chad, experienced severe dust storms in 2022 that resulted in an 18% increase in PM2.5 concentration in 2022 compared to the previous year.

The Cost of Poor Air Quality

Poor air quality is one of the leading causes of early deaths worldwide, just behind high blood pressure, tobacco use, and poor diet.

According to a 2020 study by the Health Effects Institute, 6.67 million people died as a result of air pollution in 2019.

In addition to the millions of premature deaths each year, the global cost of health damages associated with air pollution currently sits at $8.1 trillion.

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Green

Ranked: The Most Carbon-Intensive Sectors in the World

Comparing average Scope 1 emission intensities by sector according to an analysis done by S&P Global Inc.

Published

26 mins ago

October 1, 2023

Selin Oğuz

Ranked: The Most Carbon-Intensive Sectors in the World

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on real assets and resource megatrends each week.

Ever wonder which sectors contribute the most to CO₂ emissions around the world?

In this graphic, we explore the answers to that question by comparing average Scope 1 emission intensities by sector, according to an analysis done by S&P Global Inc.

Defining Scope 1 Emissions

Before diving into the data, it may be useful to understand what Scope 1 emissions entail.

Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by a company, such as their facilities and vehicles.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Scope 1 emissions can do a good job of highlighting a company’s environmental footprint because they represent the direct emissions related to manufacturing or creating a company’s products, whether they are tangible goods, digital software, or services.

Scope 2 and 3 emissions, on the other hand, encompass the indirect emissions associated with a company’s activities, including those from a company’s purchased electricity, leased assets, or investments.

Ranking the Carbon Giants

According to S&P Global’s analysis of 2019-2020 average emissions intensity by sector, utilities is the most carbon-intensive sector in the world, emitting a staggering 2,634 tonnes of CO₂ per $1 million of revenue.

Materials and energy sectors follow behind, with 918 tonnes and 571 tonnes of CO₂ emitted, respectively.

Sector	Sector Explanation	Scope 1 CO2 emissions per $1M of revenue, 2019-2020
Utilities	Electric, gas, and water utilities and independent producers	2,634 tonnes
Materials	Chemicals, construction materials, packaging, metals, and mining	918 tonnes
Energy	Oil and gas exploration/production and energy equipment	571 tonnes
Industrials	Capital goods, commercial services, and transportation	194 tonnes
Consumer staples	Food, household goods, and personal products	90 tonnes
Consumer discretionary	Automobiles, consumer durables, apparel, and retailing	33 tonnes
Real estate	Real estate and real estate management	31 tonnes
Information technology	Software, technology hardware, and semiconductors	24 tonnes
Financials	Banks, insurance, and diversified financials	19 tonnes
Communication services	Telecommunication, media, and entertainment	9 tonnes
Health care	Health care equipment, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and life sciences	7 tonnes

S&P Global also reveals some interesting insights when it comes to various industries within the materials sector, including:

Cement manufacturing exhibits an extremely high level of Scope 1 emissions, emitting more than double the emissions from the utilities sector (5,415 tonnes of CO₂ per $1M of revenue)
Aluminum and steel production are also quite emission-intensive, emitting 1,421 and 1,390 tonnes respectively in 2019-2020
Relatively lower-emission materials such as gold, glass, metals and paper products bring down the average emissions of the materials sector

Given these trends, a closer look at emission-intensive industries and sectors is necessary for our urgent need to decarbonize the global economy.