Canada’s air high quality final yr was worse than the US for the primary time since a agency began publishing its annual evaluation in 2018.
The 2023 World Air High quality report from Swiss firm IQAir says raging wildfires had been a serious affect on Canada’s drop in air high quality.
The report discovered that on an inventory of 15 most polluted cities in each the U.S. and Canada, Canadian communities made up the 13 most polluted cities on the record, topped by Fort McMurray, Alta., and Peace River, Alta.
Information signifies Peace River’s air pollution focus, usually under the nationwide common, shot as much as ranges in Might worse than the annual common reported in India, the third-most polluted nation on the earth.
Canada was much less polluted than 92 of the 134 nations, areas or territories surveyed within the report, with about an eighth of the typical annual air pollution focus of worst-ranked Bangladesh.
Solely seven nations reported common annual air pollution concentrations throughout the World Well being Group’s guideline, together with Mauritius, Iceland, and Australia.
The report aggregates monitoring knowledge on air pollution generally known as PM2.5, high quality particulate matter so small it could journey deep into lungs and pose a threat to human well being.
