A former leader at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said of the end of the Global Air Quality program: “For the cost of it and for the fact that it was intended to and it does protect Americans and American families who are serving their country by serving in the embassies, it seemed like a foolish and uncaring and unnecessary decision to make.”
Date: 6/26
Region: Global
Country: Global
Topic: Climate & Environment, Health
Policy Lens: Climate & Resource Pressure
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: This quote was collected as part of The Aid Report’s original reporting, “‘Why did the US State Department stop sharing air quality data?” This feature story examines how the U.S. has stopped publicly sharing air quality data collected at embassies around the world, leaving many countries without trusted pollution measurements.
This quote is attributed to Janet McCabe, former deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to McCabe, the data helped determine hardship pay for embassy staff and informed daily decisions about spending time outdoors. Publicly, the readings alerted residents to dangerous air quality in real time and underpinned scientific research and environmental policy.
The Global Air Quality program was born in 2008 out of a request from embassy workers in Beijing who feared the country’s pollution levels were impacting their health and couldn’t find air pollution data from the Chinese government. When the U.S. Global Air Quality program ended, more than 70 diplomatic posts in over 50 countries, stopped providing the trusted, independent pollution data that many relied on. Globally, only 64% of countries monitor air pollution at all, and just 27% make that information publicly available and transparent.
Source: Devex