Overseas air pollution monitoring stopped by US due to slashed funding

The US on Tuesday ended pollution tracking by its embassies that had remained a prominent source of data especially in Beijing, as President Donald Trump slashes overseas and environmental spending.

As it said it was ending the Air Quality Monitoring Programme’s transmission of data, "budget constraints" were cited by the State Department.

“The current budget climate requires us to make difficult cuts and, unfortunately, we cannot continue to publish this data,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The information has supported research, helped thousands of foreign service officers working abroad to decide if it was safe to let their children play outdoors, and has directly led to air quality improvements in countries like China, reported The New York Times.

Moreover, the State Department also said that historical data will remain on a site of the Environmental Protection Agency, but live data stopped on Tuesday and will remain down unless funding is restored.

As a service to Americans overseas, the US has monitored air quality through embassies since 2008. 

However, it has also increasingly done this as a way to share accurate scientific data that may otherwise be censored overseas.

Ahead of a major international summit attended by then President Barack Obama, the authorities in China banned a popular app from sharing data from the US embassy in 2014.

However, researchers say the transparency has had a noticeable effect, with China taking action after being embarrassed by US embassy data, which was released on social media that showed far worse pollution than the official figures.

Additionally, the air quality data from the US embassy is also frequently used as a reference in New Delhi, which has severe pollution issues.

In January, Trump since returning to office has slashed spending including on international cooperation and the environment as he vows to trim government and prioritise tax cuts.

The Trump administration has effectively shut down the US Agency for International Development under the guidance of tech billionaire Elon Musk, long at the forefront of US efforts for influence overseas.

Trump has also sharply reduced environmental staffing and turned back a slew of climate initiatives by previous president Joe Biden.

According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution, which is aggravated by climate change, contributes to nearly seven million premature deaths globally each year.