Air quality in Canada in 2023 reportedly was worse than in the U.S. for the first time in history, 6th Annual World Air Quality Report, published Tuesday by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company says.
15 of the most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada, led by Fort McMurray and Peace River in Alberta. Others included Yellowknife, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Canmore, Alberta.
It was explained by the report that in 2023, air quality in Northern America was significantly influenced by extensive Canadian wildfires, burning an area roughly half the size of Germany. ranging from May to October.
As a result 2023 marked the first instance in this report’s history that Canada surpassed the United States in regional pollution rankings.
Only seven countries including Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand, the report found, which met World Health Organization air quality guidelines.
Out of 134 countries studied in the report, Canada ranked 93 while the top three polluted cities included Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.
While 99 of the world’s worst air polluted cities were in Asia, 83 of them in India.
Dangerous air particles which included fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5 were specifically looked at by the study that can cause emissions from gasoline, oil, diesel fuel and burning wood.
When these dangerous air particles are inhaled, PM2.5 can travel deep into the lungs and has been linked to asthma, cancer, lung disease and other respiratory illnesses.
“Climate change, primarily driven by greenhouse gas emissions, plays a pivotal role in influencing concentrations of PM2.5 air pollutants, and fossil fuel emissions are simultaneously responsible for the majority of PM2.5 related deaths,” the report said.
The report pointed out that PM2.5 levels in Alberta alone in May 2023 were nearly nine times higher than the same period in 2022.
With 41 percent of Canadian cities in 2023 recording double WHO air quality guidelines for PM2.5 levels, only 23 Canadian cities met those annual guidelines in 2023, down from 61 in 2022.
During the record-breaking 2023 wildfire season, about four percent of Canada’s forests were burned resulting in the evacuation of more people and more areas scorched than in any previously-recorded season.
Only one Canadian city, Prince Rupert, B.C. made the list of the 15 least polluted cities in Canada and the U.S.
Alberta alone recorded PM2.5 levels in May 2023 ,nearly nine times higher than the same period in 2022, according to the report.
According to the report, of the 15 most polluted regional cities in Canada and the U.S. 10 are indluded in Alberta.
These are
- Fort McMurray, Peace River,
- Yellowknife;
- Fort St. John, B.C.;
- Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.;
- Spruce Grove, Alta.;
- Edmonton;
- St. Albert, Alta.;
- Sherwood Park, Alta.;
- Saskatoon;
- Canmore, Alta.;
- Cold Lake, Alta.;
- Leduc, Alta.;
- Beloit, Wis.; and
- Prince George, B.C.
“We see that in every part of our lives that air pollution has an impact…in some of the most polluted countries–lead to many years of suffering that are entirely preventable if there’s better air quality,” IQAir Global CEO Frank Hammes was reported saying,
