In 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 7 September as the “International Day of Clean Air for blue skies”, and stressed the urgent need to raise public awareness at all levels, and to promote and facilitate actions to improve air quality.
On this International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, on 7 September, WHO/Europe recognizes the value of “the air we share” and the need for a concerted cooperative effort to tackle the persisting burden of air pollution that is driving climate change and damaging people’s health.
“We are seeing an increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves that are causing more wildfires, which are severely impacting air quality in almost all world regions,” explains Dr Joy Shumake-Guillemot of the WHO/WMO Joint Climate and Health Office. “The amplifying interaction between air pollution and climate change is imposing an additional ‘climate penalty’ on hundreds of millions of people globally.” This also refers to how climate change will exacerbate ground-level ozone pollution episodes that also have a detrimental impact on people’s health.
