Covid lockdowns improved air quality in 2020, but climate calamities worsened air pollution in US, Thailand and Australia | News | Eco-Business

The pandemic-induced economic slowdown led to considerably better air quality almost everywhere in 2020, but climate-related calamities such as wildfires and sandstorms made air pollution much worse in parts of Thailand, Australia, the United States and China, according to an annual study of particulate pollution.

In South and Southeast Asia, where air quality has been deteriorating in recent years due to a toxic mix of urbanisation, fossil fuels combustion and agricultural burning; lockdowns and movement restrictions helped ease smog last year; 84 per cent of countries and 65 per cent of cities monitored in the World Air Quality Report experienced cleaner air in the year of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Some of the biggest improvements in air quality were felt in Asia, the world’s smoggiest region. Air pollution dropped by 11 per cent in…