Green
Ranked: The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities on Earth
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Ranked: The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities on Earth
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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.
Environment
3 Ways the Shipping Industry is Addressing Climate Change
The shipping industry is responsible for 2.89% of all carbon emissions. Here are three ways it could evolve to address climate change.
3 Ways the Shipping Industry is Addressing Climate Change
The global shipping industry is on the verge of a transformation not seen since the transition from sail to steam.
In 2018, the industry emitted 1.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, representing 2.89% of all anthropogenic, or human-caused, emissions. And according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that could increase 90-130% in 2050, from a 2008 baseline.
This is the second and final part of The Shipping Industry: Plotting a Course for the Future, a two-part series from our sponsor Seaspan Corporation, that looks at three ways that containerships in particular, could evolve to become more sustainable.
1. Stemming the Tide of Containership Emissions
Unlike personal transport, which has a proven and commercially scalable technology in electric vehicles, there’s no silver bullet for shipping. However, existing technologies and design improvements could help make significant inroads against total fleet emissions.
According to data from Seaspan, propeller upgrades (6.5%), hull coatings (up to 5.0%), and main engine retrofits (4.4%) won’t bring emissions to zero on their own, but taken together they add up to big savings.
| Technology | Annual Abatement potential |
|---|---|
| Speed reduction | 8.5% |
| Propeller Upgrade | 6.5% |
| Bulbous bow optimization | 6.4% |
| Speed Controlled Pumps and Fans | 6.2% |
| Hull coating | 5.0% (up to) |
| Main engine retrofit | 4.4% |
| Air lubrication | 3.5% |
| Propeller boss cap fin | 2.5% |
| Waste Heat Reduction | 2.2% |
| Pre-swirl stator | 2.0% |
| Weather Routing | 1.7% |
| Autopilot Upgrade | 1.7% |
| Vertical bow | 1.5% |
| Wind shield | 0.6% |
| High-Efficiency Lighting | 0.4% |
Interestingly, the biggest potential impact could come from slowing down ships (8.5%), which lowers fuel consumption and as a consequence, emissions. In the race to net zero, slow and steady could very well win the race.
2. Sailing the Ocean Green
In the long run, though, design tweaks don’t address the elephant seal in the room, which is the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels. Ships that run on alternate fuels, like ammonia, methanol, and even wind-power, are all in development, but many of the technologies are still in the early stages.
To help spur development, a group of countries at COP26, the annual UN climate conference, committed to establishing green shipping corridors where vessels would run on alternate fuels. A total of 24 countries signed the Clydebank Declaration, including the U.S. and the UK, and together they hope to catalyze the shift to zero emission shipping.
3. Leaving Fossil Fuels High and Dry
Many ship owners and operators are looking at Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) as a transitional fuel, while alternate fuel technologies mature. LNG emits between 13.2% and 16.6% less CO2 than conventional bunker fuel oil, a highly viscous residual fuel that is high in sulfur, so it’s no surprise that LNG-powered containerships represent 29.23% of the existing orderbook.
But with all but 2.4% of the current global fleet running on fossil fuels, there is still a long journey ahead.
On the Right Tack
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol established the IMO as the forum for climate change action for the shipping industry, which many have criticized for not moving fast and far enough on climate change.
At the July 2023 meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, the IMO adopted a new greenhouse gas strategy, which set “indicative checkpoints” for emission reductions for 2030 and 2040 in place of binding targets, and committed to hit net zero “by or around, i.e. close to 2050, taking into account different national circumstances.” The IMO also declined to put a price on carbon.
Even without firm targets, many industry players aren’t waiting to move on the climate emergency. Seaspan, the world’s largest independent charter owner and manager of containerships, is moving to green their fleet. They recently signed an agreement to retrofit 15 ships with dual-fuel engines that can also run on green methanol, with an option for 45 more.
Find out what else Seaspan is doing to get ready for the future of shipping.
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