Mpumalanga the world’s worst for NO2 pollution

Greenpeace says an analysis of sophisticated satellite data shows Mpumalanga as the worst nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution hotspot across six continents.

“It was reported before that the Witbank area has the world’s dirtiest air‚ and now this analysis of high-tech satellite data revealed that Mpumalanga province is the global number one hotspot for NO2 emissions‚” said Melita Steele‚ senior climate and energy campaign manager for Greenpeace Africa‚ on Monday.

“This confirms that SA has the most polluting cluster of coalfired power stations in the world‚ which is both disturbing and very scary.”

The satellite data used in the analysis was taken from June 1 to August 31. It shows that Johannesburg and Pretoria are also affected by NO2‚ which is blown from Mpumalanga by regular easterly winds.

The list of the world’s nitrogen dioxide hotspots is made up of places where there are coal-fired power plants – in SA‚ Germany and India‚ as well as nine coal-powered industrial clusters in China.

Cities like Santiago in Chile‚ London‚ Paris‚ Dubai and Tehran in Iran also feature high on the list due to transportrelated emission.

“Air pollution is a global crisis‚ with up to 95% of the world’s population breathing unsafe air‚” said Steele.

“SA is a significant global hotspot‚ with its high concentration of coal power stations and its weak air pollution standards. Our government urgently needs to come up with an action plan.” –