Airly becomes one of the first global pollution measurement platforms to monitor air quality in line with the new, stricter air quality guidelines introduced by the WHO at the end of 2021.
Table of content:
- What are the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines 2021?
- What is new in global air quality guidelines 2021?
The new WHO Air Quality Guidelines 2021 for the most important polluters are now available on Airly tools – Airly Data Platform, which allows local governments, businesses and local communities to accurately analyze air quality, as well as our desktop online map of pollution. In the upcoming days, the new index will also be available in the Airly mobile app for Android.
Worried about air pollution? Download the Airly app.
“Recently, during many conversations with people from around the world interested in the fight for clean air, the topic of the implementation of new WHO standards on our maps has recently come back like a refrain. We are aware of the importance of understanding the level from which the air becomes a threat to our health and well-being, which is why at Airly we have made every effort to ensure that the new, tightened WHO AQI guidelines find a place on our platforms.
Additionally, we are happy to announce the release on a special day, which is the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. This is a time when air quality and its improvement are under the spotlight more than ever” – says Head of Marketing & PR at Airly, Marcin Gnat.
What are the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines 2021?
The updated WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) provide recommendations on air quality guideline levels as well as interim targets for six key air pollutants. They also offer qualitative statements on good practices for the management of certain types of particulate matter (PM), for example, black carbon/elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, and particles originating from sand and dust storms, for which there is insufficient quantitative evidence to derive AQG levels.
Based on the extensive scientific evidence currently available, the new WHO Air Quality Guidelines 2021 identify the levels of air quality necessary to protect public health worldwide. The AQGs also serve as a reference for assessing if, and by how much, the exposure of a population exceeds levels at which it might cause health concerns. They cover some of the most monitored pollutants critical for health, for which evidence on health effects from exposure has advanced the most in the past 15 years. The global air quality guidelines 2022 focus on so-called classical pollutants, particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO). When action is taken to reduce these classical pollutants it also has an impact on other pollutants.
Guideline levels for specified pollutants can be used as an evidence-informed reference to help decision makers in setting legally binding standards and goals for air quality management at international, national and local levels. They are also a practical instrument with which to design effective measures to achieve pollutant emission and concentration reductions, and therefore, to protect human health. WHO periodically issues these health-based AQGs to assist governments and civil society in reducing human exposure to air pollution and its adverse effects.
What is new in global air quality guidelines 2021?
Since the last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase in the quality and quantity of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. For that reason, and after a systematic review of the accumulated evidence, several of the updated AQG values are now lower than 15 years ago (see Table 1). There are also now clearer insights about sources of emissions and the contribution of air pollutants to the global burden of disease.
Compared to previous WHO guidelines, the new AQGs:
- use new methods for evidence synthesis and guideline development;
- reinforce evidence on health effects;
- provide higher certainty in the evidence of health effects occurring at lower levels than previously understood;
- offer additional AQG levels, such as for peak season O₃ and 24-hour NO₂ and CO, as well as some new interim targets;
- offer new good practice statements on the management of certain types of PM (i.e. black carbon/elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, and particles originating from sand and dust storms).
Would you like to learn more about WHO AQI on our platform? Contact us. We will invite you to an exclusive webinar. Also read how is AQI calculated.