Opinion | Smog and silence: does halt to global air quality monitoring signal end of US engagement?

It was a dark day when news broke last week that Washington would halt a worldwide air pollution monitoring programme. Citing budget constraints, the US State Department effectively shut down the programme that has provided critical air quality readings at more than 80 American embassies and consulates for more than a decade, mostly in places where such data is scarce or unreliable. Unlike most of US President Donald Trump’s controversial domestic policies, the move felt particularly disappointing close to home, partly because the global campaign was first launched in China in 2008. When the US embassy in Beijing began to publish its own air quality data online in 2009, few would have thought such a seemingly trivial move could have consequential impacts on China’s efforts to tackle pollution. Based on a single monitoring station installed on the roof of the embassy, the US air pollution readings contrasted sharply with those published by mainland authorities, exposing the truth behind the city’s much-touted success in cleaning up persistent smog. The embassy data, updated hourly via mobile phone app and on social media, became an instant hit with the Chinese public, which had long been sceptical of central government data that constantly showed positive air quality outcomes even on smoggy days. Beijing was deeply embarrassed and viewed the embassy’s move as another attempt by Washington to stir trouble and meddle in China’s internal affairs almost from day one. Although the Chinese authorities had started monitoring levels of tiny, inhalable particles known as PM2.5 well before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they refused to publish the data, which were deemed as too bleak and depressing. Instead, it sought to discredit the US embassy data as “not authoritative” and “unscientific”, while quietly voicing its opposition in closed-door diplomatic meetings. Foreign ministry officials even summoned American diplomats to protest over the issue in 2009, according to documents released by WikiLeaks. Resentment towards the US surveillance finally boiled over in 2012 after the American consulates in Guangzhou and Shanghai began to make public their own real-time monitoring data. A vice-minister for the environment angrily accused the US diplomatic missions of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations over its public dissemination of China’s air pollution data – something he said only the Chinese government had the authority to do. A foreign ministry spokesman also urged Washington to stop releasing the data, “especially over the internet”. While Beijing justified its secretiveness on matters of public interest, such as the critical environmental data, as a sovereign issue, environmentalists voiced concerns that the government cared more about its own image than the growing toll China’s pollution was taking on the nation’s health. Eventually, the public calls for clean air proved too strong to resist, with Beijing reluctantly moving to reform China’s outdated pollution standards and monitor smog across the country in the following years. In retrospect, the release of US embassy data has ushered in a new era in China’s campaign to clean up air pollution in a country that has the world’s largest number of lung cancer victims, due mostly to deteriorating air quality. The disappointing move to end pollution tracking by American diplomatic missions could not have come at a worse time, as a report released on Tuesday showed only seven countries met World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards last year. According to air quality monitoring database IQAir, based in Switzerland, people in most of the world live in polluted air, with just 17 per cent of cities globally meeting WHO air pollution guidelines. The research, based on data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries, found that Chad, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India were among countries with the dirtiest air, while only Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia and Iceland made the grade. Air pollution kills around 7 million people each year, according to an estimate by the WHO, which said earlier that 99 per cent of the world’s population lived in places that did not meet recommended air quality levels. Underdeveloped countries in Asia and Africa were expected to be affected the most by the abrupt end to air quality data sharing, first reported by The New York Times. It remained unclear what benefits the Trump administration expected from such moves that look set to raise further questions about Washington’s reliability, and deal another blow to America’s image as the last “beacon of hope” for the world. As a drastic, inward-looking US shift under Trump increasingly shocks and appals the world, it is worth asking if it signals the end of the era of American engagement with the world.

Opinion | Smog and silence: does halt to global air quality monitoring signal end of US engagement?

As the US State Department pulls the plug on air quality monitoring programmes in Beijing and around the world, concerns grow over pollution accountability