US Shuts Downs Air Monitoring at Embassies, Consulates

For more than 10 years, 80 US embassies and consulates have collected and reported data on air pollution in countries around the world, in some areas serving as the only reliable disseminator of such information. Now, the Trump administration has put the kibosh on that global monitoring program, with the State Department noting the program is being suspended due to "budget constraints," reports the New York Times. The paper notes that the program, which saw its origins in an air-monitoring system put in place in the US Embassy in Beijing in 2008, was fully expanded to include more American diplomatic missions in 2015 by then-Secretary of State John Kerry and EPA head Gina McCarthy.

Data from the program was posted on the AirNow site, managed by the State Department and the EPA—a site that now delivers a "sorry, but this web page does not exist" message, per the Washington Post. The accompanying app was similarly offline as of Tuesday. The State Department notes that the actual air monitors themselves will continue running, at least for now, but that data won't be uploaded and disseminated as usual, "if/until funding for the underlying network is resolved."

Per Air Quality News, "while the significance of the monitoring undertaken at these locations is not immediately (apparent), it has been credited with having a positive impact on global air quality." The news service notes that, because initial efforts to monitor air quality near US embassies and consulates was meant to protect American staffers, the monitors were mainly installed in areas with the worst pollution. A 2022 study found that the program made positive inroads, especially in areas that had limited or no reliable air-quality info, leading to "substantial reductions in fine particulate concentration levels, resulting in substantial decreases in the premature mortality risk."

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The pushback against suspending the monitors has already begun. "In my opinion it puts the health of foreign service officers at risk," Columbia research professor Dan Westervelt tells the Times. "But they're also hindering potential research and policy." More here, including on what happened when that first air monitor was put in place in Beijing. (More air pollution stories.)