Air Quality Headlines Around the World

Politico | 28 November 2025 | States are delaying coal plant retirements to meet surging AI-driven electricity demand just as the Trump administration weakens pollution rules, a combination that increases coal use and heightens climate and public-health risks.

Newsweek | 28 November 2025 | Thousands of residents in parts of California and Oregon were urged to stay indoors Thursday as several communities faced “unhealthy” air quality levels that pose heightened risks, especially for vulnerable groups.

Vajiram & Ravi | 27 November 2025 | Delhi’s air-quality monitoring system relies on 40 CAAQMS stations using CPCB-approved methods to measure key pollutants, but frequent equipment failures, calibration issues, weather distortions, incomplete data, and gaps flagged by CAG audits significantly undermine the accuracy and reliability of the city’s AQI readings.

GlobeNewswire | 27 November 2025 | The air quality sensor market is projected to nearly double to about USD 9.92 billion by 2033, driven by stricter environmental regulations, rising health awareness about pollution, and expanding adoption of IoT-enabled monitoring systems across homes, businesses, and smart cities.

BBC | 26 November 2025 | A volcanic ash plume from Ethiopia’s newly erupting Hayli Gubbi volcano has swept across the Red Sea to India, disrupting flights and prompting aviation warnings, though experts say it is unlikely to worsen Delhi’s already very poor air quality.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) | 26 November 2025 | Côte d’Ivoire’s NDC 3.0 aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 33% below BAU by 2035 (up to 74% with support) across all sectors and gases, including major SLCPs, through measures such as a 50–70% reduction in HFCs, methane and nitrous oxide mitigation in waste and agriculture, expanded renewables, and other actions that also yield expected air-quality co-benefits.

Nature | 25 November 2025 | A 30-day assessment of a Riyadh school found that indoor air quality is strongly influenced by traffic-related pollution and inadequate ventilation, with particulate matter and elevated indoor NO₂ levels indicating the need for better school siting, upgraded HVAC systems, and ongoing IAQ monitoring.

Mass.gov | 25 November 2025 | MassDEP has installed new air monitoring stations in Framingham and Saugus as part of a broader effort to improve statewide air quality, strengthen pollution standards, expand air-sensor grants, and enhance public forecasting tools.

KTLA | 24 November 2025 | Southern California will see lingering showers, mountain snow and strong winds Saturday before conditions clear and warm later in the day heading into Thanksgiving week.

Nature | 24 November 2025 | A large CHARLS study found that multiple air pollutants were linked to reduced cognitive function in adults over 45, but higher levels of physical activity significantly weakened these harmful effects, highlighting the need for policies that both reduce pollution and promote exercise.

PA Environment Digest Blog | 23 November 2025 | The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is inviting public comments by December 22 on an initial air quality permit for EQT Midstream’s proposed 8-million-gallon oil and gas wastewater storage facility in Jackson Township, Greene County, with no hearing scheduled unless requested and application materials available for public review.

ABC7 | 23 November 2025 | A container ship fire that began with an electrical malfunction at the Port of Los Angeles forced the One Henry Hudson to be moved out to sea overnight and prompted a shelter-in-place order, which was lifted Saturday morning as firefighters continued battling roughly 40 inaccessible burning containers.

Daily Dispatch | 22 November 2025 | Smith County fire crews battled an industrial blaze near Tyler Pounds Regional Airport Thursday night, prompting evacuations and an emergency alert due to potentially hazardous smoke, before reopening Highway 64 and scaling back operations by early Friday.

ESS Open Archive | 22 November 2025 | The study shows that smoke from the record 2023 Canadian wildfires significantly degraded Lake Michigan–region air quality, driving most PM₂.₅ exceedances and influencing one of two summer ozone events, while model–observation comparisons suggest the smoke’s ozone-dampening aerosol effects were likely stronger than simulations indicated.

Arizona PBS | 21 November 2025 | The Clean Air Act has significantly reduced major air pollutants and improved public health, though further progress may be challenging, as discussed by experts Dr. Tracey Holloway and Emily Schilling.

PAHO | 21 November 2025 | PAHO/WHO conducted air-quality assessments and on-the-job training in Turks and Caicos to help local authorities build lasting capacity for managing indoor environmental quality in public facilities.

United Nations Development Programme | 20 November 2025 | Air pollution remains a major public health challenge in Viet Nam, and a 2025 pilot led by UNDP and AirGradient tested low-cost, community-operated sensors to expand hyperlocal monitoring, build local capacity, and generate data to support targeted pollution reduction efforts.

GMA Network | 20 November 2025 | A coalition of tech and academic groups is deploying real-time air quality sensors across Metro Manila to collect PM2.5 data and guide effective public health policies against pollution.

BMC Public Health – BioMed Central | 19 November 2025 | A large cohort study found that long-term exposure to common air pollutants significantly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, with poor sleep quality mediating up to one-third of this effect, showing two modifiable targets for prevention.

The Hindu | 19 November 2025 | The Supreme Court warned that Delhi’s severe air pollution cannot be solved by imposing GRAP year-round and instead requires a gradual, long-term strategy that protects the livelihoods of vulnerable workers.

Resources Magazine | 18 November 2025 | A new study shows that when government shutdowns halt federal pollution monitoring, coal plants emit more manually regulated pollutants, showing how monitoring gaps can directly worsen air quality.

Zag Daily | 18 November 2025 | Local authority funding for air-quality measures has collapsed despite many UK cities still breaching legal pollution limits, raising fears that progress on cutting traffic emissions will stall.

EPA – NSW Government | 17 November 2025 | An independent review of Cadia Valley Operations found no water quality impacts or acid mine drainage but recommended improvements to monitoring coverage, data integration, and analysis to strengthen environmental oversight.

PubMed | 17 November 2025 | A decade of satellite analysis shows Bangladesh’s NSEZ development has sharply reduced vegetation, raised temperatures, worsened air quality, and fragmented water systems, underscoring the ecological costs of rapid coastal industrialization.

Polar Journal | 16 November 2025 | Europe’s new Metop-SGA1 polar-orbiting satellite has launched with advanced atmospheric instruments and the Copernicus Sentinel-5 payload, poised to deliver high-precision air quality and climate monitoring data once operational.

BBC | 16 November 2025 | Northern India’s air quality apps often diverge because government monitors cap AQI readings at 500 while private platforms report far higher values, leaving residents unsure which pollution levels to trust during severe smog episodes.

Envirotech Online | 15 November 2025 | Researchers have developed a reconfigurable metasurface LiDAR that can switch between flash and high-resolution scanning modes, offering fast, adaptive 3D sensing well-suited for airborne air-quality and emissions monitoring.

Semafor | 15 November 2025 | A new EPIC report says small annual investments in community air monitoring could transform public health in 83 countries, especially across Africa where major data gaps hinder efforts to address severe pollution risks.

The Guardian | 14 November 2025 | New analysis shows the UK’s 2020 “eat out to help out” scheme triggered significant spikes in cooking-related particle pollution in London, revealing commercial kitchens as an overlooked but major urban pollution source.

Newsweek | 14 November 2025 | A pocket of “unhealthy” PM2.5 pollution across parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee is prompting EPA health advisories for reduced outdoor activity, especially for sensitive groups.

Delaware News – Delaware.gov | 13 November 2025 | Delaware’s environmental agency has launched a statewide public survey to gather resident perspectives on local air quality to guide future monitoring, outreach, and policy decisions.

ESS Open Archive | 13 November 2025 | A low-cost ESP32-based sensing system combined with a TensorFlow Lite model achieved 77% accuracy in identifying incense-related air pollution, showing the potential of affordable AI-driven tools for real-time air quality monitoring.

E&E News | 12 November 2025 | The New Mexico Supreme Court will review a revived lawsuit claiming the state violates its constitutional duty to control pollution by permitting new oil and gas wells despite ongoing air quality violations.

BBC | 12 November 2025 | Delhi authorities have imposed strict anti-pollution measures, including hybrid classes for young students, bans on construction and heavy vehicles, and public health warnings, as the city’s air quality reaches “severe” levels nearly 30 times above WHO safety limits.

Centre for Science and Environment | 11 November 2025 | CSE is hosting a four-day residential training (Nov 25–28, 2025) at AAETI to build capacity and strengthen multi-sectoral strategies for cities implementing the National Clean Air Programme to meet tightened particulate pollution reduction targets.

Reuters | 11 November 2025 | India has activated stage three anti-pollution curbs in New Delhi as the city’s AQI climbed into the “severe” range, triggering bans on non-essential construction and polluting industrial activity amid rising crop-burning and public protests over hazardous air.

Climate and Clean Air | 10 November 2025 | The UK and Brazil launched a new CCAC-backed accelerator to rapidly cut methane and other super pollutants in developing countries, supported by a $25 million initial package and joined by major nations pledging faster, coordinated non-CO₂ climate action.

ABC News | 10 November 2025 | New Delhi’s air quality reached severe levels again, prompting residents to protest for government action as smog from crop burning, vehicles, and industry choked the city and fueled a worsening public health crisis.

The Hindu | 9 November 2025 | Delhi’s air quality fell into the ‘severe’ category on Sunday, with an overall AQI of 391 and several areas exceeding 400, indicating dangerously high pollution levels.

WIRED | 9 November 2025 | Air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM2.5), is a major and often overlooked driver of disease and premature death, linked to heart disease, diabetes, and neurological damage, and with weakened U.S. regulations, individuals are increasingly left to protect themselves through measures like air purifiers and N95 masks.

The Allegheny Front | 8 November 2025 | CMU’s CREATE Lab and Climate TRACE have launched a global animated map showing how particulate pollution spreads from industrial sources in over 2,500 cities, highlighting health risks and supporting environmental justice advocacy.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition | 8 November 2025 | A new technical brief emphasizes that reducing open waste burning, an extensive global source of toxic air pollution, is critical for improving public health, mitigating climate impacts, and advancing clean energy and waste management solutions.

Marketplace.org | 7 November 2025 | Residents of north Denver’s Elyria–Swansea neighborhood fear that a new CoreSite data center will worsen already poor air quality due to increased power demand and diesel generator emissions, despite the company insisting its impact will be minimal.

Ophthalmology Times | 7 November 2025 | A recent Chinese study identified six key genes linking air pollution exposure to the development and progression of dry eye disease, offering new targets for prevention and treatment.

Bloomberg Philanthropies | 6 November 2025 | A new EUR 80 million credit enhancement fund announced at COP30 aims to unlock EUR 450 million to deploy over 1,700 electric buses across Brazil by 2030, improving air quality and advancing sustainable urban mobility.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting | 6 November 2025 | Citizen groups are appealing West Virginia regulators’ approval of air permits for a new microgrid facility in Tucker County, arguing that emissions data was improperly redacted as “trade secrets” and that the project was wrongly classified as a minor pollution source.

PreventionWeb.net | 5 November 2025 | University of Minnesota researchers developed AI-guided aerial robots that can enter and analyze wildfire smoke plumes to create 3D data for improving air quality modeling and early fire detection.

The Guardian | 5 November 2025 | Air pollution has decreased overall in England and Wales, but a new Friends of the Earth analysis shows that the poorest and most diverse neighbourhoods are now disproportionately exposed to the worst remaining pollution, highlighting a growing environmental injustice.

European Environment Agency – European Union | 4 November 2025 | A new EEA report finds that environmental factors like air pollution, noise, toxic chemicals, and extreme weather contribute to at least 18% of cardiovascular deaths in the EU, urging stronger implementation of pollution and climate policies to reduce disease risk and support healthier environments.

ABC News | 4 November 2025 | Aerosol physicist and Queensland University of Technology professor Lidia Morawska, named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2021, has received Australia’s $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for her pioneering research on ultrafine air pollutants and airborne disease transmission that reshaped global health guidelines.

ThePrint | 3 November 2025 | Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to a “very poor” AQI of 366 on Sunday as weak winds trapped pollutants, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels rising sharply and several stations recording “severe” air quality.

Modesto Bee | 3 November 2025 | The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert through Monday afternoon for parts of Southern California, as the South Coast AQMD enforced a no-burn order to reduce fine particle pollution and protect public health.

My Bellingham Now | 2 November 2025 | The Northwest Clean Air Agency is reminding residents across Island, San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom counties that burning garbage is illegal in Washington, urging recycling and proper waste disposal instead to protect air quality and public health.

Whitehaven News | 2 November 2025 | Cumberland Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review a report highlighting the Communities and Public Protection Directorate’s statutory role in improving air quality, emphasizing the monitoring of NO₂, PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, and benzene to protect public health and reduce pollution-linked inequalities.

Dawn | 1 November 2025 | Punjab’s Environment Protection & Climate Change Department faced accusations of deliberately switching off Lahore’s air quality monitors during peak smog hours, but officials blamed a brief “technical glitch,” later resolved, as the province continued to report hazardous pollution levels across major cities.

Farmonaut | 1 November 2025 | Lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) is an adaptable, air-purifying ornamental plant valued for its low-maintenance care, aesthetic appeal, and sustainable role in modern horticulture and urban agriculture.

Resilience.org | 31 October 2025 | An Environmental Integrity Project report found that all seven fully operational U.S. LNG export terminals violated the Clean Air Act in the past five years, many repeatedly, while emitting over 18 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, as regulators in Texas and Louisiana often eased permit limits even amid ongoing pollution and safety violations.

The Guardian | 31 October 2025 | A major Nature study of 11,000 air samples across Europe found that pollution from road traffic and wood burning is up to three times more toxic than rural air, making targeted cuts to these sources the most effective way to reduce air pollution’s health impacts.

The Nome Nugget | 30 October 2025 | Dust pollution in Nome, Alaska, has reached near-hazardous levels, prompting health advisories urging residents, especially vulnerable groups, to stay indoors, wear masks, and limit outdoor activity until rain or snow reduces the PM10 dust stirred up by traffic and dry fall conditions.

Newsweek | 30 October 2025 | The 2025 State of Global Air report shows that parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona experienced the highest U.S. ozone pollution levels, exceeding WHO targets, driven by heat waves, wildfires, and transboundary pollution, posing major respiratory risks to vulnerable populations.

The Guardian | 29 October 2025 | A new Environmental Integrity Project report found that every fully operational U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal has violated federal air or water pollution limits since 2022, even as the Trump administration accelerates approvals for new export facilities despite repeated Clean Air and Clean Water Act breaches.

Washington State Department of Ecology – | WA.gov | 29 October 2025 | Washington’s Department of Ecology has launched a $25 million “Rails, Keels, and Wheels” grant program to help businesses and nonprofits replace old diesel-powered vehicles and equipment with cleaner or zero-emission alternatives, aiming to cut thousands of tons of air pollution statewide.

Illinois Institute of Technology | 28 October 2025 | A study by Illinois Tech, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Elevate found that improved residential ventilation systems, especially energy recovery ventilators, significantly enhanced indoor air quality and reduced asthma symptoms, particularly among lower-income and Black households in Chicago.

ScienceDirect.com | 28 October 2025 | This study introduces two new CO₂-based surrogates, per-person dilution (pCO₂) and room dilution (rCO₂), to more accurately interpret airborne infection risk by accounting for both emission and removal dynamics of infectious aerosols in indoor environments.

SatNews | 27 October 2025 | Europe’s new Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission has captured its first air quality images from geostationary orbit, providing hourly, high-resolution data on pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and sulphur dioxide to enhance pollution monitoring and forecasting across the continent.

Nature | 27 October 2025 | The UK’s air quality management system limits genuine public participation by involving citizens only after pollution thresholds are breached, highlighting the need for structural reform that values local knowledge and embeds community input throughout decision-making processes.

Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District | 26 October 2025 | California has expanded the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies program statewide, reducing ship speeds to prevent whale strikes and cut emissions by 27%, equivalent to removing 900,000 cars from the road annually.

ResearchGate | 26 October 2025 | A nationwide French study found that prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, and nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of childhood acute leukemia, particularly acute lymphoblastic leukemia, supporting a link between early-life air pollution and cancer risk.

Human Rights Watch | 25 October 2025 | Human Rights Watch reported to the UN that weak regulation and enforcement of air quality standards in countries such as the U.S., Türkiye, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the UAE allow fossil fuel operations to emit dangerous pollution, disproportionately harming marginalized communities and violating the right to health.

ESS Open Archive | 25 October 2025 | Satellite data from 2019–2024 show that 79% of 1,400 cities worldwide experienced significant declines in tropospheric NO₂, led by major reductions in China and Europe, while increases were observed in parts of the Middle East and South Asia, notably Tehran and Cairo.

WREX | 24 October 2025 | In recent years, wildfire smoke from Canada’s prairies has increasingly degraded surface air quality in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, marking a shift from previously higher-altitude California smoke and underscoring changing environmental impacts on regional air conditions.

BBC | 24 October 2025 | Delhi’s air quality plunged to its worst post-Diwali levels in four years as a mix of firecracker emissions, vehicle pollution, and renewed stubble burning across Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh combined with stagnant winter air to trap toxic haze over the city.

Southern Environmental Law Center | 23 October 2025 | A Harvard School of Public Health report commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center found that Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy’s proposed Canadys methane gas plant could expose over two million people to harmful PM2.5 pollution, disproportionately affecting Black and low-income communities and costing up to $36 million annually in health-related impacts by 2040.

E&E News | 23 October 2025 | Environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of “presidential exemptions” that granted 50 chemical plants and refineries two extra years to meet toxic emission limits, arguing the move unlawfully exceeds presidential authority under the Clean Air Act.

NDTV | 22 October 2025 | Research from Delhi University’s Dr. S.K. Dhaka found that post-Diwali pollution spikes were primarily caused by locally used “green crackers,” not stubble burning from neighboring states, revealing that Delhi’s air quality issues are largely local in origin.

Reuters | 22 October 2025 | New Delhi’s air quality reached hazardous levels after Diwali celebrations, with IQAir recording a PM2.5 concentration 59 times above WHO limits and an AQI of 442, making it the most polluted major city in the world despite partial restrictions on firecracker use.

UC Davis Health | 21 October 2025 | UC Davis and Virginia Tech are leading a $40 million ARPA-H–funded project called BRAVE to develop smart-building “smoke alarm” systems that detect airborne pathogens and automatically improve indoor air quality to reduce respiratory illnesses.

Technology Networks | 21 October 2025 | A study in Environment International found that prenatal exposure to fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) slows early brain myelination in newborns, suggesting air pollution may hinder initial stages of brain maturation.

ScienceDirect.com | 20 October 2025 | A long-term study in Ghana found that providing clean LPG cookstoves to pregnant women significantly lowered their blood pressure for up to eight years postpartum, highlighting the cardiovascular benefits of reducing household air pollution.

Times of India | 20 October 2025 | The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has issued new directives aimed at strengthening pollution control and improving air quality management across the National Capital Region.

The New Indian Express | 19 October 2025 | Experts report that worsening air quality in northern India stems from rising stubble burning across both Indian and Pakistan’s Punjab, with Pakistan recording ten times more farm fires and smoke drifting eastward across the border.

Yahoo | 19 October 2025 | PurpleAir sensors detected elevated particulate pollution across the Bay Area on Saturday, with haze and smoke from Central Valley agricultural burns pushing air quality into the “unhealthy for some” range.

Al Jazeera | 18 October 2025 | For the first time, the G20 summit in Cape Town is prioritizing clean air, addressing global pollution that causes 5.7 million deaths annually amid limited international funding for air quality initiatives.

BBC | 18 October 2025 | Jersey’s 2024 air quality report shows continued year-on-year improvement, with nitrogen dioxide levels steadily declining since 2000 under the island’s Carbon Neutral Roadmap.

Nature | 17 October 2025 | The study finds that efficient, liquid carbon trading markets in China lead to measurable short-term improvements in air quality, particularly through reductions in PM2.5 levels.

Williams Mullen | 17 October 2025 | Jessie King will moderate a panel on “PFAS Updates and TSCA Happenings” at the 2025 CAPCA Fall Meeting in Myrtle Beach, where Williams Mullen is a Gold sponsor.

ScienceDirect.com | 16 October 2025 | A new diffusive ozone sampler validated at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, showed strong agreement with ultraviolet analyzer readings and high self-consistency across sampling periods, confirming its reliability for long-term polar ozone monitoring.

Nature | 16 October 2025 | The study presents FLPSO-AMPS, a fuzzy logic and particle swarm optimization-based routing method that improves energy efficiency, reliability, and data delivery in wireless sensor networks for air pollution monitoring in smart cities.

Animal Legal Defense Fund | 15 October 2025 | The Animal Legal Defense Fund and partner groups appealed a federal court ruling that upheld an EPA rule exempting factory farms from reporting hazardous air emissions like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, arguing the exemption violates the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and leaves nearby communities unprotected from toxic pollution.

90.5 WESA | 15 October 2025 | Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab and Climate TRACE launched a global map visualizing particulate pollution from over 9,500 industrial sources, linking emissions to nearly 9 million annual deaths and supporting environmental justice advocacy worldwide.

Cornell Chronicle – Cornell University | 14 October 2025 | Cornell University and the Environmental Defense Fund are studying how dust and wildfire air pollution has evolved since 1850 to better predict future impacts on health, mortality, and economies, with a focus on Latin America.

JD Supra | 14 October 2025 | The Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board fined Southern Ionics Inc. $3,000 after determining its Calhoun facility exceeded sulfur dioxide emission limits and failed to report hydrogen chloride emissions in violation of its air permit.

The Economic Times | 13 October 2025 | Delhi’s air quality remained poor on Sunday with an AQI of 168, as PM2.5 reached 74 µg/m³ and PM10 hit 159 µg/m³, prompting health precautions despite clear skies and comfortable temperatures.

Signal Akron | 13 October 2025 | At a community meeting about Akron’s new $85 million North High School, residents requested features like green space, natural light, better air quality, and athletic facilities, while architects outlined a timeline aiming to complete construction by March 2029 and pledged to prioritize comfort, sustainability, and community input.

Dawn | 12 October 2025 | The fear of smog has already started lingering upon us. We are once again bracing ourselves to choke in our own neglect. Are we doomed to suffer every year, through climate change, mismanagement, broken promises, or is it just bad luck?

Panorama.am | 12 October 2025 | Yerevan’s air quality index reached 85.9 for PM2.5 on Saturday, classified as “moderate”, with Mayor Tigran Avinyan noting it’s acceptable for most residents but could affect those with health conditions.

Pittsburgh’s Public Source | 11 October 2025 | Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE Lab expanded its Plume Pittsburgh pollution-tracking platform into Climate TRACE, a global tool unveiled by Al Gore that visualizes emissions from nearly 10,000 industrial sites worldwide, helping expose “super-emitters” and empower communities through transparent, justice-focused air quality data.

ScienceDirect.com | 11 October 2025 | Using an extended quantile g-computation model with spatial Bayesian analysis, researchers found that higher mixtures of PM2.5, NO₂, SO₂, O₃, and CO were linked to reduced birth weight in 21 Georgia counties, highlighting localized pollution impacts on infant health.

ScienceDirect.com | 10 October 2025 | Imported solar panels displaced 305 TWh of fossil power and prevented 178 million tons of CO₂ and nearly 600 premature deaths in the U.S. from 2014–2022, showing that global solar supply chains yield major health and climate benefits that offset about half their cost.

Time Magazine | 10 October 2025 | Heat pump startup Jetson is cutting installation costs by using remote project assessments and launching its own monitored unit, Jetson Air, which tracks air quality and filter status—while robotics firm Figure AI prepares to deploy its humanoid Figure 03, designed to handle household tasks and improve through large-scale data training.

ScienceDirect.com | 9 October 2025 | Using machine learning, researchers mapped PM2.5 hotspots in New York City from 2010–2019 and showed that congestion pricing and traffic restrictions most effectively and equitably reduce urban air pollution.

The Bay State Banner | 9 October 2025 | Boston awarded $1.12 million through its 2025 Community Clean Air Grants to six community projects in environmental-justice neighborhoods, supporting efforts in schools and along transit corridors to monitor and reduce pollution, educate residents, and build partnerships that advance local air-quality improvements and health equity.

NC DEQ – NC.gov | 8 October 2025 | North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality is taking public comments through Nov. 19 and holding hearings Nov. 13 (Mooresville) and Nov. 18 (Lexington) on draft permits to add new gas turbines and generators at Transco compressor Stations 150 and 155 with modeling indicating no exceedance of toxic ambient levels.

Climate Policy Initiative | 8 October 2025 | The 2025 State of Global Air Quality Funding report warns that despite major donor cuts and the closure of USAID, countries have committed to halving air pollution’s health impacts by 2040, emphasizing that integrated air quality and climate policies could save over 2 million lives annually and boost global GDP by up to $2.4 trillion.

ACS Publications – American Chemical Society | 7 October 2025 | Researchers found that the choice of central metal in π-extended porphyrin-based heterojunction sensors strongly affects performance, with nickel-centered devices showing ultrafast and highly sensitive ammonia detection, while zinc-centered ones excel in precise humidity monitoring.

Nature | 7 October 2025 | A Northern Ireland study found that long-term exposure to PM2.5 levels above 9.6 µg/m³ increased lung cancer risk by 37%, with a stronger effect in women, highlighting that even low pollution levels can significantly impact health.

KROC News | 6 October 2025 | Mayo Clinic received federal funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to develop AI-driven biosensors and smart filtration systems that monitor and improve indoor air quality in hospital emergency departments across its Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona campuses.

Space | 6 October 2025 | A University of Memphis study found that Elon Musk’s xAI data center in southwest Memphis caused only a slight, 1% increase in fine particulate pollution, confirming that while the facility’s turbines minimally affected local air quality, long-standing industrial pollution remains a major health concern for nearby residents.

ScienceDirect.com | 5 October 2025 | The study introduces FCGformer, a deep learning model that combines frequency-domain convolution and graph-based transformers to better capture complex global and local spatiotemporal patterns in air pollution, achieving higher forecasting accuracy than existing models.

The Earthshot Prize | 5 October 2025 | Bogotá’s comprehensive clean air plan, combining greener transport, expanded cycling, urban greening, and low-emission zones, has cut air pollution by 24% since 2018 and positioned the city as a global model for sustainable urban transformation.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) | 4 October 2025 | The Climate and Clean Air Coalition released updated AQMx guidance to help countries and cities strengthen air quality management through step-by-step actions, expanded monitoring, public engagement, and stronger legal frameworks on the path toward sustained clean air.

LAist | 4 October 2025 | An explosion and fire at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery raised air quality concerns as officials reported elevated but quickly subsiding VOC levels, while experts urged stronger monitoring to detect potential toxic emissions like benzene.

Nature | 3 October 2025 | A new review highlights that while low-cost air quality sensors are expanding access to pollution monitoring worldwide, their accuracy, calibration, and lack of standardized protocols remain major challenges, especially in mobile, drone, and citizen science applications.

The Guardian | 3 October 2025 | After nearly 30 years of air quality policies, Santiago, Chile saw its third best year for reduced pollution episodes in 2025, with hours of high exposure down 66% over the last decade, though challenges remain.

NC DEQ – NC.gov | 2 October 2025 | North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality awarded $1.14 million in DERA-funded grants to replace or retrofit 20 older diesel vehicles and equipment (including some with electric and CNG alternatives), projected to cut 3,483 tons of CO₂, 57 tons of NOx, and 7,700 pounds of PM2.5 over their lifetimes.

World Health Organization (WHO) | 2 October 2025 | A new WHO policy summary emphasizes that land use planning plays a critical role in shaping exposure to air pollution and its health impacts, urging integrated policies that connect planning, regulation, and enforcement to reduce pollution and improve public health worldwide.

Armenia signed a $1.7 million grant agreement with Japan to modernize its air quality monitoring stations, improve data quality, and strengthen environmental forecasting.

Envirotech Online | 30 September 2025 | Airvoice, a global air quality technology company founded in 2021, will showcase its AI-driven real-time monitoring and management solutions for buildings and cities at CEM 2025.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030 – iHeart | 30 September 2025 | Boston awarded over $1.1 million in Community Clean Air Grants to six organizations for projects including air quality monitoring, education campaigns, and pollution mitigation to improve public health and reduce exposure across city neighborhoods.

The Boulder Reporting Lab | 29 September 2025 | Colorado health officials rejected Xcel Energy’s initial coal ash cleanup plan at the Valmont Power Station, citing inadequate protections against toxic dust and groundwater contamination, and ordered a stronger strategy before the decade-long, $60–70 million project can begin.

The Guardian | 29 September 2025 | Latino communities across the U.S. are installing local air quality sensors to track harmful pollution, fill data gaps, and advocate for stronger protections as federal regulations are rolled back.

KAWC | 28 September 2025 | Gadsden Elementary School District #32 has launched the Air Quality Flag Program to help students and families track daily pollution levels and take precautions, especially for children with respiratory conditions.

American Journal of Managed Care | 28 September 2025 | New research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress 2025 suggests that a diet high in fruits may help protect women’s lung function from the harmful effects of air pollution, though reducing pollution remains the most important priority.

Providence Business News | 27 September 2025 | PACE Organization of Rhode Island reports that air quality alerts now cause senior visit cancellations to double to nearly 30%, as vulnerable participants face heightened health risks.

Wyoming Public Radio | 27 September 2025 | Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality has stationed a mobile air monitoring unit in Wright for a year to track pollutants after the county received a failing air quality grade from the American Lung Association.

SBU News – Stony Brook University | 26 September 2025 | The GOTHAAM airborne mission, the largest of its kind over New York City, used NSF/NCAR’s C-130 aircraft to study how urban, forest, ocean, and wildfire emissions interact to form smog and pollutants, aiming to generate a high-resolution baseline of atmospheric chemistry to inform public health and climate research.

California Air Resources Board – CA.gov | 26 September 2025 | The California Air Resources Board adopted its 2025–2030 Five-Year Strategic Research Plan, prioritizing health, air quality, climate, mobile sources, and sustainable communities research to guide science-driven policymaking amid federal regulatory rollbacks.

The Washington Post | 25 September 2025 | A study of nearly 30,000 schoolchildren in Tianjin, China found that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of myopia, making air quality a modifiable factor in protecting children’s eyesight.

Stockholm Environment Institute | 25 September 2025 | A joint study in Dar es Salaam found PM2.5 and PM10 levels far above WHO limits, while nearly half of South Africa’s monitoring stations were offline in 2025, underscoring Africa’s urgent need for stronger air quality monitoring infrastructure.

Nature | 24 September 2025 | A study in Northern Sweden found no significant link between low-level air pollution and telomere length overall, though inconclusive hints of longer telomeres among individuals later diagnosed with dementia highlight the need for further research on pollution’s cellular impacts.

UNECE | 24 September 2025 | Experts under the UNECE Air Convention are developing scenarios and new monitoring tools to guide the Gothenburg Protocol revision, aiming to cut air pollution-related health and ecosystem impacts by 50% by 2040 compared to 2015 levels.

Frontiers | 23 September 2025 | A large-scale study in China finds that worsening air pollution significantly reduces residents’ participation in fitness activities, with impacts varying across gender, age, education, and household status.

Yale Climate Connections | 23 September 2025 | As federal air pollution regulations are rolled back, Moms Clean Air Force is mobilizing parents to push for stronger state and local policies to protect children’s health and fight climate change.

Farmonaut | 22 September 2025 | Mining in Arkansas continues to drive the state’s economy in 2025, but both gold extraction and strip mining cause severe environmental harm, degrading air, water, soil, and biodiversity, unless countered by sustainable practices, reclamation, and new monitoring tools like satellite-based systems.

The Realty Today | 22 September 2025 | Smart homes are increasingly using circadian lighting and air quality monitors to align light and air with human biology, improving sleep, mood, productivity, and long-term health through responsive, wellness-focused design.

Planet Detroit | 21 September 2025 | An EPA engineer testified that Michigan’s EES Coke Battery has violated the Clean Air Act by emitting over 3,000 tons of sulfur dioxide annually without required desulfurization controls, which could have cut emissions by 95%, exposing the facility to more than $300 million in potential penalties.

KOMO News | 21 September 2025 | Wildfire smoke from the Bear Gulch Fire has pushed PM2.5 pollution in Mason and Thurston Counties to unhealthy levels, prompting an air quality alert and health warnings through Saturday night.

Stockholm Environment Institute | 20 September 2025 | Colorado adopted its first health-based standards for five toxic air pollutants, setting strict cancer risk levels but weaker non-cancer protections after industry pushback, with emission limits to follow in 2026.

KLCC | 20 September 2025 | Despite smoky conditions in Eugene on Thursday, air quality only reached the “moderate” range, with officials attributing the haze to distant wildfires and noting levels should improve as winds shift north.

ScienceDirect.com | 19 September 2025 | Microplastics accumulate in aquatic systems through cross-compartment flux, where poor waste management and even bio-based plastics drive persistence and toxicity, highlighting the urgent need for standardized detection methods and integrated remediation strategies.

Daily Bruin | 19 September 2025 | UCLA researchers launched a community air quality monitoring network in Pacific Palisades after the wildfire to track harmful particles from reconstruction and provide residents with real-time, accessible data and alerts.

The Colorado Sun | 18 September 2025 | The northern Front Range saw only 23 ozone violation days in summer 2025, down from 41 in 2024 and a record 67 in 2021, thanks largely to favorable weather, though researchers continue refining models to guide long-term emission reduction policies.

TribLIVE.com | 18 September 2025 | At a packed public hearing, residents questioned state regulators over health risks from emissions at a proposed 4.5-gigawatt natural gas plant in Homer City, while officials said projected pollution levels remain below concern thresholds.

CBS News | 17 September 2025 | Airline crews report more than three toxic fume events a day on U.S. flights, most often on Airbus A320s, raising health concerns despite industry assurances that cabin air meets safety standards.

BBC | 17 September 2025 | A new study finds that Delhi’s severe air pollution is forming damaging “black crusts” on the Red Fort’s sandstone walls, threatening its carvings and historic architecture without urgent conservation measures.

ScienceDirect.com | 16 September 2025 | Exposure to particulate matter and endocrine-disrupting chemicals may worsen cardiovascular, bone, and menopausal symptoms in midlife women, highlighting the need for targeted air quality monitoring and healthcare strategies.

Eumetsat | 16 September 2025 | Europe’s new 3MI satellite instrument has delivered its first images, showcasing unprecedented ability to monitor atmospheric particles for improved weather forecasts, air quality tracking, and climate monitoring.

scsuntimes.com | 15 September 2025 | The Delaware City Refinery illegally emitted hundreds of tons of sulfur dioxide and other pollutants over 18 days in May and June, exceeding its annual permit limit and violating seven environmental laws and conditions.

Lookout Santa Cruz | 15 September 2025 | A Monterey County judge upheld permits for toxic fumigants near schools despite air monitor data showing exposures above safety limits, rejecting claims that regulators failed to consider safer alternatives or cumulative impacts of pesticide use.

Center for Biological Diversity | 14 September 2025 | California lawmakers passed Senate Bill 237, allowing up to 20,000 new oil and gas wells in Kern County without environmental review, a move critics warn will worsen pollution, climate impacts, and public health while benefiting Big Oil.

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company | 14 September 2025 | California lawmakers are set to vote on extending Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cap-and-trade program through 2045, rebranded as “cap and invest,” to fund climate initiatives and stabilize energy costs, though critics argue it lacks strong protections for vulnerable communities and could raise living expenses.

Science | 13 September 2025 | A Science study shows that heat from western U.S. wildfires reduces fine particle pollution in the East by altering weather patterns, preventing about 1,200 premature deaths and $3.3 billion in losses otherwise overlooked.

Yale E360 | 13 September 2025 | A new Science study finds that extreme western U.S. wildfires can improve East Coast air quality by altering weather patterns. Intense heat from the fires disrupts west-to-east airflow, pulling in moist Atlantic winds that suppress smoke spread and increase rainfall, which washes pollutants from the air.

Chicago Sun-Times | 12 September 2025 | Chicago has completed installation of 277 advanced air pollution sensors to track PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide, creating the largest city-led monitoring network in the U.S. and providing public neighborhood-level data by early 2026.

Worcester Business Journal | 12 September 2025 | Massachusetts lawmakers are considering bills to expand the state’s air quality monitoring network by installing new sensors in pollution hotspots, tracking ultrafine particles and black carbon, and requiring a 75% pollution reduction in those areas by 2035, with advocates stressing urgent protections for children and environmental justice communities.

ScienceDirect.com | 12 September 2025 | A study using a mixed-frequency VAR model finds that AI’s impact on U.S. carbon emissions follows an increase–decrease–rebound pattern, highlighting both its potential and risks for air quality and calling for integrated policies to maximize environmental benefits.

Phys.org | 11 September 2025 | Nottingham Trent University research shows that London’s narrow, tall-building “urban canyon” streets trap particulate pollution at dangerously high spikes, highlighting the need for greener design, AI-driven traffic management, and stricter emission controls to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

Fox 11 | 11 September 2025 | Wisconsin’s DNR has launched an upgraded, user-friendly real-time air quality map, with prominent advisories, a news box, streamlined navigation, and an “Orange or Above” AQI filter, to help residents stay safer during ozone and wildfire smoke events.

News-Medical.net | 10 September 2025 | A University of Chicago review underscores that particulate air pollution is a major, modifiable driver of respiratory disease causing asthma, COPD, infections, fibrosis, and lung cancer through oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial injury, highlighting the urgent need for stronger air quality standards and interventions.

SnowBrains | 10 September 2025 | The lightning-sparked Garnet Fire has scorched nearly 55,000 acres in California’s Sierra National Forest, pushing air quality in Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite into hazardous levels as thousands of firefighters battle the fast-growing blaze threatening ancient sequoias.

The BMJ | 10 September 2025 | With record heat intensifying worldwide, doctors warn that combined exposure to extreme temperatures and air pollution is a growing health emergency, stressing the need for integrated medical guidance, protective infrastructure, and stronger political action to cut fossil fuel emissions.

POLITICO Pro | 9 September 2025 | The EPA is moving to weaken regional haze rules designed to curb industrial emissions and restore visibility in national parks, drawing legal challenges from environmental groups as officials frame the program as a burden on energy costs.

University of California, Merced | 9 September 2025 | UC Merced’s Professor Xuan Zhang has received a $621,000 NSF CAREER Award to study how changing pollution levels alter the chemistry of peroxy radicals, with implications for air quality, climate models, and community education.

Central Oregon Fire Info | 9 September 2025 | Despite recent rain, Central Oregon remains at high wildfire risk after 76 fire incidents this month, prompting officials to maintain Stage 1 restrictions and urge the public to follow fire safety rules and report smoke immediately.

ScienceDirect.com | 8 September 2025 | A new study using survey data in Beijing shows that outdoor air pollution exposure varies sharply by daily activities—highest during work and commuting—and is shaped by health, education, and social status, highlighting the need for policies addressing both activity patterns and inequality.

European Public Health Alliance | 8 September 2025 | The EU Healthy Air Coalition warns that air pollution drives chronic disease and billions in economic costs, urging policymakers to accelerate emissions cuts, set binding methane targets, end fossil fuel subsidies, and curb biomass burning.

UNEP | 7 September 2025 | Guatemala, with UNEP’s support, is developing its first air quality regulation to set standards, build a monitoring network, and strengthen emissions controls, marking a major step toward cleaner air ahead of the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies 2025.

WFIE | 7 September 2025 | A chemical fire in Newburgh prompted precautionary shelter-in-place advisories in parts of Daviess and Henderson counties, but officials lifted the orders after air quality readings showed no ongoing danger.

Al Jazeera | 6 September 2025 | The UN’s World Meteorological Organization warns that climate change–driven wildfires are releasing a “witches’ brew” of pollutants that degrade air quality across continents, urging stronger global policies to protect health, ecosystems, and economies.

The Seattle Times | 6 September 2025 | Wildfire smoke has pushed air quality in parts of Washington to unhealthy and hazardous levels, prompting national parks to close trails, campgrounds, and roads at Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades.

springer.com | 5 September 2025 | A new study introduces an enhanced temporal attention-based LSTM model that achieves 97.5% accuracy in forecasting PM2.5 levels in Karnataka, offering a powerful tool for early air quality warnings and public health protection.

RFI | 5 September 2025 | The World Meteorological Organization’s latest Air Quality and Climate Bulletin warns that worsening wildfires, fog, and pollution hotspots show how climate change and air quality are inseparably linked, while examples from China prove that strong policies can deliver dramatic improvements.

The Guardian | 5 September 2025 | New research published in Science shows that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) can trigger toxic protein clumps linked to Lewy body dementia, highlighting clean air policies as a crucial tool for brain health.

JD Supra | 4 September 2025 | Arkansas has submitted its 2025–2026 Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan to the EPA, outlining statewide air quality surveillance sites, pollutant measurements, and proposed network changes to ensure compliance with federal clean air standards.

Envirotech Online | 4 September 2025 | The 4th CEM India conference on air quality and emissions monitoring, set for 10–12 March 2026 in Delhi, has opened its call for papers, inviting experts and industry professionals to present case studies and innovations by 17 October 2025.

Limerick.ie | 4 September 2025 | Limerick City and County Council has launched a real-time public dashboard displaying air quality and noise data from 29 monitoring stations, linking environmental insights to public health and Active Travel routes ahead of Clean Air for Blue Skies Day 2025.

IOP Science | 4 September 2025 | A study of the Sensirion SPS30 low-cost PM2.5 sensor finds it can reliably track urban air quality patterns and hotspots, though accuracy declines at high humidity, highlighting the need for RH-based corrections in citizen monitoring campaigns.

JCI | 3 September 2025 | A comprehensive review finds that particulate matter air pollution is a leading global health threat, causing millions of premature deaths and driving respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, fibrosis, pneumonia, ARDS, and lung cancer, with no safe threshold of exposure.

WGBH | 3 September 2025 | This week’s edition of The Deep Dive explores smog and air quality, from wildfire smoke and deadly historical smog events to Hollywood depictions, while offering expert talks, practical health tips, and a reminder to find fresh air escapes.

ScienceDirect.com | 3 September 2025 | A new medical review warns that climate change is already driving major health impacts through air pollution, extreme heat, and microplastics, urging physicians to integrate climate advocacy, education, and sustainable practices into clinical care.

Asian Development Bank | 2 September 2025 | A new analysis warns that air pollution costs over $8 trillion globally and remains the second leading cause of premature death, but highlights that practical measures like sustainable transport, renewable energy, and better waste and crop management can deliver major health and economic benefits in Asia and the Pacific.

Green Alliance | 2 September 2025 | A new briefing warns that methane, already a powerful greenhouse gas, is also driving dangerous ozone pollution in the UK, calling for a 30% cut in emissions and binding ozone targets to safeguard health and food security.

GV Wire | 1 September 2025 | California lawmakers quietly killed “Leno’s Law,” a bill to exempt classic cars from smog checks, after environmental groups and regulators warned it would undermine air quality goals and cost the state millions.

ScienceDirect.com | 1 September 2025 | Researchers developed an Adaptive Hypergraph-based Convolution Network with Dual Spatiotemporal Attention (AHCN-DA) that significantly improves PM2.5 forecasting accuracy by dynamically modeling complex spatial and temporal pollution interactions.

Family Handyman | 31 August 2025 | A UCLA study finds that electric vehicle fast-charging stations emit unexpectedly high levels of fine particulate matter, raising local air quality concerns linked to charger cooling systems.

RTE | 31 August 2025 | As worsening wildfires and heat drive U.S. air pollution higher, experts warn that sweeping regulatory rollbacks and reduced monitoring under the Trump administration threaten to undo decades of clean-air progress and deepen environmental injustices.

PubMed | 30 August 2025 | Researchers have developed GEE-MEGAN, a satellite-driven, cloud-native model that improves fine-scale estimates of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions, revealing up to 25-fold higher urban levels and sharper accuracy in human-impacted ecosystems.

AZoCleantech | 30 August 2025 | A new industry eBook from Thermo Fisher Scientific highlights cutting-edge advances in clean technology—from renewable hydrogen and carbon capture to EV trends and sustainable materials—positioning innovation as key to building a greener future.

The New Indian Express | 29 August 2025 | Air pollution now cuts the average Indian’s life expectancy by 3.5 years, surpassing the toll of malnutrition and unsafe water, with residents of Delhi-NCR facing losses of more than eight years due to extreme PM2.5 levels, according to new University of Chicago data.

Insurance Journal | 29 August 2025 | Canada’s unprecedented 2023 wildfire season drove particulate pollution to levels not seen in over a decade across North America, erasing years of clean-air progress and underscoring how fossil fuel–driven climate change is amplifying health risks worldwide.

Surfrider Foundation | 29 August 2025 | A new UCSD and SDSU study finds that sewage-driven hydrogen sulfide emissions in the Tijuana River Valley have created dangerous nighttime air pollution levels in South San Diego, posing severe health risks for nearby communities until emergency water diversions reduced exposures by 95%.

Georgia State University News | 28 August 2025 | A new Nature Communications study shows that droughts in Latin America force a shift from hydropower to fossil fuel plants, driving spikes in PM₂.₅ pollution that cause up to 10,600 premature deaths annually—costs expected to rise sharply without clean energy storage and targeted plant retirements.

C&EN – American Chemical Society | 28 August 2025 | Scientists warn that current Air Quality Index (AQI) metrics can underestimate risks after wildfires in urban areas, since hazardous gases and toxic dust from burned materials are not included—highlighting the need to expand monitoring beyond the six regulated pollutants.

Carnegie Mellon University | 28 August 2025 | Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a polymer-coated MXene sensor that lasts over twice as long and more accurately detects harmful formaldehyde indoors, offering a low-cost tool to improve indoor air quality and health.

Georgia Today | 27 August 2025 | Georgia’s National Environment Agency reports that desert dust drifting from the northeast has raised PM10 and PM2.5 levels in Eastern Georgia since late July, prompting continued monitoring and public health advisories.

CBS News | 27 August 2025 | A lightning-sparked Everglades wildfire that merged into a 48,000-acre blaze in western Broward County has been fully contained after a week of firefighting, with smoke impacts easing as air quality returned to safe levels.

Stockholm Environment Institute | 27 August 2025 | A new Science Advances study finds oil and gas air pollution causes over 91,000 premature U.S. deaths annually, with disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities and heavy burdens in states like California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Taylor & Francis Online | 27 August 2025 | A study of 1.66 million dining transactions in Beijing found that higher air pollution reduces in-person dining spending and increases food delivery use, especially among women and graduate students, revealing hidden economic costs of pollution beyond health impacts.

NC DEQ – NC.gov | 27 August 2025 | North Carolina has marked ten consecutive years of meeting all federal air quality standards, a milestone credited to strong policies, cleaner energy, and emission reductions that have delivered major health and economic benefits statewide.

Meetings Coverage and Press Releases – the United Nations | 26 August 2025 | UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies by urging bold global action to cut fossil fuels and pollution, stressing that clean air is achievable through renewable energy, stronger policies, and international cooperation.