"Heatwaves and wildfires helped expose 34 percent of the world’s population to “extremely poor” ozone air quality in the first eight months of 2026, according to a European Union report published Wednesday. Asia recorded the highest exposure, while ozone pollution remained difficult to curb despite decades of progress in reducing other harmful emissions."
"Heatwaves and wildfires combined with human-caused emissions this year to expose one third of the world's population to extremely high levels of ozone pollution, a European Union report said on Wednesday.
In a new analysis covering the first eight months of 2026, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) highlighted the close relationship between climate change and air pollution.
When heat and sunlight react with airborne emissions from wildfires, vehicles and industry, they create ground-level ozone pollution, which can damage lung tissue, cause breathing problems, trigger asthma attacks and lead to other health issues.
Despite progress in cutting the most harmful air pollutants in recent decades, ozone has proved more difficult to tackle as climate change fuels the conditions that favour its formation."
