A team of researchers, led by Professor Gavin Shaddick at the University of Exeter, has shown that, despite global efforts to improve air quality, vast swathes of the world’s population are experiencing increased levels of air pollution.

The study, carried out with the World Health Organisation, suggests that air pollution constitutes a major, and in many areas increasing, threat to public health.

The research is published in leading journal Nature Climate and Atmospheric Science on Wednesday, June 17th 2020.

Professor Shaddick, Chair of Data Science & Statistics at the University of Exeter said: “While long-term policies to reduce air pollution have been shown to be effective in many regions, notably in Europe and the United States, there are still regions that have dangerously high levels of air pollution, some as much as five times greater than World Health Organization guidelines, and in some countries air pollution is still increasing”.

The World Health Organization has estimated that more than four million deaths annually can be attributed to outdoor air pollution.

Read more at University Of Exeter

Image by marcinjozwiak from Pixabay