EJQ4 - Spring 2025 - Journal - Page 20
IT WAS THE FIRST TIME Canada came out with a higher ranking than
the United States. And yet, not a cause for celebration.
are considered events outside the control of an air quality district, so they’re actually subtracted from their reports.”
When IQ Air released its sixth annual World Quality Air Report in the
spring of 2024, it was noted for the 昀椀rst time in the report’s history that
Canada surpassed the U.S. in regional pollution rankings.
Perhaps that explains why the Government of Canada’s website proclaims that
“the country’s air quality has improved signi昀椀cantly over the last decades as our
air pollution emissions continue to mainly decline.”
An inauspicious achievement brought about as the report states “by extensive wild昀椀res raging from May to October, burning an area roughly half the size of Germany.” During the month of May alone, the average particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels in Alberta surged almost ninefold
compared to the same period in 2022.
When there’s something in the air
What makes the numbers compiled by the Swiss technology 昀椀rm so
relevant? “Because we’re not a government agency, we don’t subtract
episodes,” explains North American CEO Gloria Dolphin Hammes, so
“we are able to properly re昀氀ect what people are breathing within their
cities.”
By episodes, Hammes is referring to “air quality episodes”—a way of describing such environmental disruptors as wild昀椀res and 昀椀reworks “that
In 2023, Canada’s wild昀椀res season was the most destructive ever recorded, with
more than 6,000 昀椀res torching 15 million
hectares of land and for periods of time,
negatively a昀昀ecting air quality across the
country as well as much of the United States.
If there is a grey lining to all of this, it’s that
by virtue of the fact smoke from those 昀椀res
came to the doorstep of millions of Canadians,
the average citizen in this country now has a
greater appreciation of how polluted air affects quality of life and overall health.
NATIONAL POLLUTANT RELEASE INVENTORY
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • S PRI N G 2 0 2 5 • P AGE 2 0
