What's the current state of air pollution in the US?

Apr 25, 2022

With the collaboration of Statista.

The number of Americans exposed to unhealthy spikes in air pollution is constantly rising. Image: Unsplash/Maxim Tolchinskiy

Katharina Buchholz

Data Journalist, Statista

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The number of Americans exposed to unhealthy spikes in air pollution has been rising consistently, according to a new report by the American Lung Association.
A total of 63.2 million are being exposed to such conditions, up from 49.6 million four years ago.
Western states are the worst exposed, largely due to major wildfire and drought activity.

According to a newly released report by the American Lung Association, the number of Americans exposed to unhealthy spikes in air pollution has been constantly rising, taking a jump up in the latest observation period of 2018 to 2020. The data shows that most recently, 63.2 million Americans lived in counties where average air quality did not necessarily fail the ALA's standards, but extreme fluctuations in the quality of the ambient air nevertheless took place.

The number of Americans exposed to these spikes rose from 49.6 million in four years, while the number of Americans exposed to unhealthy ozone pollution sank and the number of those suffering from year-round unhealthy air stagnated.

The ALA estimates that in 2018-20, approximately 137 million Americans were exposed to any of these three types of hazardous pollution levels. This is 2 million more than in last year's report, but still far less than the 150 million affected between 2016 and 2018 or the 166 million affected in 2012 to 2014.

Most cities experiencing unhealthy spikes were located in the Western United States, according to the report. Major wildfire and drought activity in the region in recent years contributed to sudden extreme spikes in unhealthy air measurements. Major cities affected by spikes were San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Salt Lake City. The only Eastern city among the worst 25 for spikes of unhealthy air was Pittsburgh, where industrial pollution continues to pose a problem.

Chart showing how Americans are exposed to air pollution.

'This chart shows the number of people living in U.S. counties with unhealthy air pollution levels.' Image: Statista

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What's the World Economic Forum doing to tackle air pollution?

During COP26 the World Economic Forum and the Clean Air Fund launched the Alliance for Clean Air, the first global private sector initiative to tackle air pollution.

The Alliance for Clean Air brings together business leaders committed to measuring and reducing value chain air pollutant emissions, investing in innovation, and working with policy makers and peers to champion the social, economic and climate benefits of tackling air pollution.

Announced at COP27, the Alliance for Clean Air announced the release of a guide to help businesses deliver on their commitments to reduce air pollution across value chains and get ahead of sustainability reporting standards.

Image: Jane Burston/ World Economic Forum

A Practical Guide For Business Air Pollutant Emission Assessment – developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and Inter IKEA Group – enables alliance members to quantify the air pollutant emissions along their value chains from key sectors, including electricity generation, transport, industrial processes, agriculture and waste. This has enabled them to consider the impact of their existing climate mitigation strategies on air pollution and ways to increase their ambition through specific air pollution mitigation measures. It is an important contribution that businesses can take to enhance their sustainability strategies.

Also announced at COP27, companies interested in learning more about the business case for tackling air pollution as part of their climate strategies can access a new business action toolkit launched in partnership with Accenture and the Clean Air Fund.

If your company is committed to improving air quality contact us to express interest in working with us.

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