Climate-driven wildfires reversing pollution progress in N. America: study

The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) annual report uses satellite data to assess levels of particulate matter worldwide, with records dating back to 1998. It translates concentrations into years of life expectancy lost, based on peer-reviewed science.

"I just don't think this can be repeated enough: particulate matter remains the greatest external threat to human health on the planet, period," Michael Greenstone, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who co-created AQLI, told AFP.

"It's worse than tobacco smoke. It's worse than child and maternal malnutrition. It's worse than road accidents. It's worse than HIV-AIDS, worse than anything in terms of losses."

According to the report, Canada's catastrophic 2023 wildfire season drove a more than 50 percent rise in particulate levels compared to 2022, while the United States saw a 20 percent increase.

Although the data currently only extends until 2023, the trend is likely to have continued as both countries face intensifying wildfire seasons, driven by warming temperatures and drought fueled by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

The year 2025 already ranks as Canada's second worst wildfire season.

"The very surprising finding to me is that in parts of the world, certainly Canada, certainly the US and it looks like parts of Europe as well, air pollution is like the zombie that we thought we had killed, and now it's back," said Greenstone.