Air pollution laws and regulations

insufficient or non-existent laws stand in the way of reducing global air pollution

Created Monday, 18 September 2023

According to WHO, 99% of the world’s population lives in areas where the air quality poses a threat to human health. At the same time, a recent United Nations study shows that many countries lack the necessary laws and regulations to combat air pollution. There are also significant differences in how countries monitor and measure air quality and present their data.

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement reached a record level of 36.6
billion tonnes in 2022. The consequence of this is that poor air quality continues to have a
highly negative impact on human health.

 

Laws are better than guidelines

In 2021, WHO published updated Global Air Quality Guidelines in which they state that 

six pollutants are the most relevant to monitor:

Air Pollutant

WHO recommended exposure levels

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

5μg/m3 annually or 15μg/m3 24-hour

Coarse particulate matter (PM10)

15μg/m3 annually or 45μg/m3 24-hour

Ozone (O3)

60μg/m3 annually or 100μg/m3 8-hour

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

10μg/m3 annually or 25μg/m3 24-hour

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

40μg/m3 24-hour

Carbon monoxide (CO)

4 mg/m3 24-hour

Recent scientific discoveries have put the threshold of air pollution levels considered harmful to
human health 50% lower today compared to eighteen years ago, when the previous
WHO Air Quality Guidelines were published.

 

There is, however, one fact that makes the WHO’s Global Air Quality Guidelines insufficient, and
it is not where the exposure thresholds are set - although it is of course very good that the levels
are adjusted according to new scientific findings. What makes the WHO guidelines insufficient is
that they are just that: guidelines and not laws.

 

No common legal framework


In a recent study, called The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation, the United Nations
presents an examination of air quality legislation in 194 countries and the European Union. 

 

According to the study, one-third of all the countries in the world completely lack legally mandated
standards for outdoor air quality. It also concludes that there is no common international legal
framework for global Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS). 

 

The national air quality laws often differ widely, with a whole variety of adopted metrics, standards
and obligations. One of the most significant disparities between countries is that they don’t use the
same scale when measuring AQI. It is also not possible to convert the data since every air quality
index is calculated in a different way. As an example, India, Singapore and the United States, all
use a scale from 0 to 500, but they have dissimilar ways of doing their calculations, making the
resulting values uncomparable.  

 

In addition, the various countries don’t always give each pollutant the same value, which is often
due to political factors. 

 

Of all the 194 countries in the UN study, only one third have transboundary laws in place to prevent
air pollution from travelling across borders into other countries. And no more than 7 percent have
laws regulating the quality of indoor air. 

 

Variations in Air Quality Indexes


Examples of variations in Air Quality Indexes between some individual countries and the European Union:

Country
and Index Name

Pollutants Considered

AQI Scale

Description

United States:

Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 5

Ground-level Ozone (03)

Particulate Matter (PM 2.5 & 10)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

0-500

0-50 Good

51-10 Moderate

101-150Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

201-300 Very Unhealthy

301-500 Hazardous

Canada:

Air Quality Health Index

TOTAL = 3

Ground-level Ozone

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

0-10+

1-3 Low Risk

4-6 Moderate Health Risk

10+ Very High Health Risk

United Kingdom:

Daily Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 5

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

0-10

1-3 Low

4-6 Moderate

7-9 High

10 Very High

European Union:

The European AirQuality Index

TOTAL = 5

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

0-1250

0-100 Good

10-200 Fair

20-350 Moderate

25-500 Poor

50-750 Very poor

75-1250 Extremely poor

Hong Kong:

Air Quality Health Index

TOTAL = 4

Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

0-10+

1-3 Low

4-6 Moderate

7 High

8-10 Very High

10+ Serious

China:

Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 6

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10)

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

0-300+

0-50 Excellent

51-100 Good

101-150 Lightly Polluted

151-200 Moderately Polluted

201-300 Heavily Polluted

300+ Severely Polluted

India:

National Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 8

Particulate Matter (PM10)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

Ammonia (NH3)

Lead (Pb)

0-500

0-50 Good

51-100 Satisfactory

101-200 Moderately polluted

201-300 Poor

301-400 Very poor

401-500 Severe

Mexico:

Metropolitan Index
of Air Quality

TOTAL = 5

Ozone (O3)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

0-200+

0-50 Good

51-100 Acceptable

101-150 Bad

151-200 Very Bad

200+ Extremely Bad

Singapore:

Pollutants Standards Index

TOTAL = 6

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

0-251

0-55 Normal

56-150 Elevated

151-250 High

251- Very High

Best protection indoors

 

We may have to wait for sufficient progress until most countries have air pollution laws and regulations
in place that are based on the latest scientific facts and fully enforced. However, in the meantime,
there are ways to protect ourselves. The simplest and most efficient protection against harmful airborne
particles is to have high-quality air filtration solutions in our buildings, especially since most of us spend
about 90% of our time indoors. 

 

We recommend equipping your ventilation system with air filters like Camfil’s City range and investing
in one or several City range air purifiers to deal with the air pollution generated from inside your premises. 

 

With the right filter solution, a significant portion of harmful particles can be stopped before they have
the chance to enter indoors. It even makes it possible for buildings located in highly polluted cities like
Beijing, New Delhi, Los Angeles, Paris and London to have acceptable indoor air quality using the
ventilation system alone. If the air filter solution is supplemented with one or more air purifiers, higher
indoor air quality levels can be achieved, even when levels of particles and other substances in the
outdoor air are high.    

According to WHO, 99% of the world’s population lives in areas where the air quality poses a threat to human health. At the same time, a recent United Nations study shows that many countries lack the necessary laws and regulations to combat air pollution. There are also significant differences in how countries monitor and measure air quality and present their data.

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement reached a record level of 36.6
billion tonnes in 2022. The consequence of this is that poor air quality continues to have a
highly negative impact on human health.

 

Laws are better than guidelines

In 2021, WHO published updated Global Air Quality Guidelines in which they state that 

six pollutants are the most relevant to monitor:

Air Pollutant

WHO recommended exposure levels

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

5μg/m3 annually or 15μg/m3 24-hour

Coarse particulate matter (PM10)

15μg/m3 annually or 45μg/m3 24-hour

Ozone (O3)

60μg/m3 annually or 100μg/m3 8-hour

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

10μg/m3 annually or 25μg/m3 24-hour

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

40μg/m3 24-hour

Carbon monoxide (CO)

4 mg/m3 24-hour

Recent scientific discoveries have put the threshold of air pollution levels considered harmful to
human health 50% lower today compared to eighteen years ago, when the previous
WHO Air Quality Guidelines were published.

 

There is, however, one fact that makes the WHO’s Global Air Quality Guidelines insufficient, and
it is not where the exposure thresholds are set - although it is of course very good that the levels
are adjusted according to new scientific findings. What makes the WHO guidelines insufficient is
that they are just that: guidelines and not laws.

 

No common legal framework


In a recent study, called The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation, the United Nations
presents an examination of air quality legislation in 194 countries and the European Union. 

 

According to the study, one-third of all the countries in the world completely lack legally mandated
standards for outdoor air quality. It also concludes that there is no common international legal
framework for global Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS). 

 

The national air quality laws often differ widely, with a whole variety of adopted metrics, standards
and obligations. One of the most significant disparities between countries is that they don’t use the
same scale when measuring AQI. It is also not possible to convert the data since every air quality
index is calculated in a different way. As an example, India, Singapore and the United States, all
use a scale from 0 to 500, but they have dissimilar ways of doing their calculations, making the
resulting values uncomparable.  

 

In addition, the various countries don’t always give each pollutant the same value, which is often
due to political factors. 

 

Of all the 194 countries in the UN study, only one third have transboundary laws in place to prevent
air pollution from travelling across borders into other countries. And no more than 7 percent have
laws regulating the quality of indoor air. 

 

Variations in Air Quality Indexes


Examples of variations in Air Quality Indexes between some individual countries and the European Union:

Country
and Index Name

Pollutants Considered

AQI Scale

Description

United States:

Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 5

Ground-level Ozone (O3)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5 & PM10)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

0-500

0-50 Good

51-10 Moderate

101-150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

201-300 Very Unhealthy

301-500 Hazardous

Canada:

Air Quality Health Index

TOTAL = 3

Ground-level Ozone

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

0-10+

1-3 Low Risk

4-6 Moderate Health Risk

10+ Very High Health Risk

United Kingdom:

Daily Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 5

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

0-10

1-3 Low

4-6 Moderate

7-9 High

10 Very High

European Union:

The European AirQuality Index

TOTAL = 5

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

0-1250

0-100 Good

10-200 Fair

20-350 Moderate

25-500 Poor

50-750 Very poor

75-1250 Extremely poor

Hong Kong:

Air Quality Health Index

TOTAL = 4

Ozone (O3)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

0-10+

1-3 Low

4-6 Moderate

7 High

8-10 Very High

10+ Serious

China:

Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 6

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10)

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

0-300+

0-50 Excellent

51-100 Good

101-150 Lightly Polluted

151-200 Moderately Polluted

201-300 Heavily Polluted

300+ Severely Polluted

India:

National Air Quality Index

TOTAL = 8

Particulate Matter (PM10)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

Ammonia (NH3)

Lead (Pb)

0-500

0-50 Good

51-100 Satisfactory

101-200 Moderately polluted

201-300 Poor

301-400 Very poor

401-500 Severe

Mexico:

Metropolitan Index
of Air Quality

TOTAL = 5

Ozone (O3)

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Particulate Matter (PM2.5/PM10)

0-200+

0-50 Good

51-100 Acceptable

101-150 Bad

151-200 Very Bad

200+ Extremely Bad

Singapore:

Pollutants Standards Index

TOTAL = 6

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Particulate matter (PM10)

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Ozone (O3)

0-251

0-55 Normal

56-150 Elevated

151-250 High

251- Very High

Best protection indoors

 

We may have to wait for sufficient progress until most countries have air pollution laws and regulations
in place that are based on the latest scientific facts and fully enforced. However, in the meantime,
there are ways to protect ourselves. The simplest and most efficient protection against harmful airborne
particles is to have high-quality air filtration solutions in our buildings, especially since most of us spend
about 90% of our time indoors. 

 

We recommend equipping your ventilation system with air filters like Camfil’s City range and investing
in one or several City range air purifiers to deal with the air pollution generated from inside your premises. 

 

With the right filter solution, a significant portion of harmful particles can be stopped before they have
the chance to enter indoors. It even makes it possible for buildings located in highly polluted cities like
Beijing, New Delhi, Los Angeles, Paris and London to have acceptable indoor air quality using the
ventilation system alone. If the air filter solution is supplemented with one or more air purifiers, higher
indoor air quality levels can be achieved, even when levels of particles and other substances in the
outdoor air are high.    
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