Bad air

New data analysed by the AFP adds another layer to just how bad the air pollution situation in Pakistan is getting. Tens of millions of Pakistanis spent at least four months breathing toxic air pollution 20 times above safe levels, in the worst winter smog season for several years. Lahore's 14 million residents spent six months breathing concentrations of PM2.5 — tiny particles that can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream — at levels 20 times or more than recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Those in Karachi and Islamabad were subjected to 120 days of the same toxic pollution levels. The cause of this pollution problem is almost as familiar as the problem itself. Ever-expanding factory and traffic emissions keep exacerbating the smog problem, with the air quality deteriorating more precipitously across the country almost every winter.

To make matters worse, the smog problem is only being compounded by global warming. Winter rains, which usually bring some relief from the smog, did not arrive until as late as this February, with climate change making the country’s weather patterns increasingly unpredictable. The unrelenting smog became so thick that it could be seen from space, forcing authorities to close schools. Millions of students across Punjab lucky enough to be getting an education in a country that now has over 25 million out-of-school children were instead forced to stay home and lose out on learning. Those who had no choice but to go to work, adults and children, were forced to mask up and hope the damage to their long-term health was not too bad. And while Pakistan is not alone in facing this problem, with only seven countries meeting WHO air quality standards in 2024, it is doing worse than most others. The country ranks third in the world for smog, with only Bangladesh and Chad having worse levels of smog.

It is noteworthy that the smog problem is also only getting worse despite government attempts to crack down on the smoke-belching bikes, rickshaws and brick kilns largely responsible for the problem. The Punjab government increased public air quality monitoring devices tenfold to around 30 and offered farmers subsidised rentals of machinery to clear crop stubble and avoid burning last year. It also pledged to increasingly enforce emissions regulations on tens of thousands of factories and more than 8,000 brick kilns. Though such solutions will take time to have an impact, some will question whether Pakistan can afford stringent emissions standards when some of the wealthiest countries in the world are not meeting their obligations. There is also the fact that stringent standards in one country, if not followed across the region, will not have an impact. Smog is as much a cross-border problem as a domestic one, with polluted air from the country’s eastern neighbours also proving to be problematic. Without subsidising a transition to cleaner technologies, something which will require the help of wealthier polluters and a regional commitment to cleaner air, the smog will continue to worsen every winter. Those with the money to solve the problem should step up to do so as whatever money is saved by cutting corners today will have to be paid back several times over once the health of millions has been ruined and breathable air itself becomes a rare commodity.