Earth Today | WMO Bulletin flags air quality-climate connection
Published:Thursday | September 11, 2025 | 12:07 AM
THE WORLD has been reminded of the linkages between air pollution and climate change, and the need to take a coordinated and comprehensive approach to overcoming the challenges they present to human and environmental health.
“Some pollutants affect climate change. Ground-level ozone and its precursors are common air pollutants and warm the atmosphere. Particulate matter (PM) – tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, also referred to as aerosols – is detrimental to human health and affects warming. Climate change also affects pollution,” notes the 2025 Air Quality and Climate Bulletin, a publication of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
“It affects the pace of chemical reactions that drive the formation and destruction of pollutants, it changes the rate and distribution of biogenic pollution (such as wildfires) and bioaerosols, and it can lead to increasing emissions from human activities. The sources of air pollution and climate change are intertwined: fossil fuel burning and other human activities that contribute to climate change also emit pollutants,” it added.
Climate change and pollution – from air to water, soil, noise, light, and plastic, among others – form a part of the triple planetary crisis, which also includes nature loss; and to which some countries, including Caribbean small island developing states, are especially vulnerable.
“Humanity is not out of the woods. Temperatures are rising, ecosystems are disappearing, and pollution remains a deadly threat,” warned Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), earlier this year.
“These are global problems that require global solutions. The world must pull together to build a fairer, more sustainable planet,” she added at the time.
The latest WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin focuses on the impacts of, and influences on, aerosols, as well as the global infrastructure to monitor and study what is in the air.
“Monitoring the concentrations of human-made atmospheric pollutants is critical for advancing science, understanding the consequences of emissions, and developing policies and mitigation measures. Such measures aim to manage climate change and protect populations from negative health impacts, protect crops from reduced yields, and protect ecosystems from degradation,” explained the bulletin.
“Observations are foundational. While satellites are becoming an important tool for atmospheric composition monitoring, their instruments cannot be calibrated and their retrieval algorithms and derived products cannot be validated without a functional and fit-for-purpose ground-based monitoring network. The need for additional observational infrastructure is particularly acute in the developing world,” it added.