Page 40 - Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Frontier Technologies to Protect the Environment and Tackle Climate Change

Figure 8: Applications of AI for climate action [viii]

Reducing air pollution through AI

One of the foremost issues facing many cities, irrespective of size, is traffic congestion. There is a
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direct correlation between traffic volumes and average levels of air pollution, with the prevalence of
motor vehicles being a major contributor of air pollution worldwide. The negative effect of traffic on
an urban region’s air quality is further exacerbated by the fact that slower moving traffic, i.e. congested
or jammed traffic, has been observed to emit more pollution compared to free-flowing traffic that
moves between 45 and 65 miles per hour (mph). Although the two are different, UN Environment
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has called air pollution and climate change two sides of the same coin. 104
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the custodial agency for three air pollution-related SDG
indicators: 3.9.1: ‘Mortality from air pollution’, 7.1.2: ‘Access to clean fuels and technologies’, and
11.6.2: ‘Air quality in cities’. The WHO defines the major components of air pollution and sets
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guidelines for acceptable levels. Meeting these levels is imperative in the fight against climate change
and for the overall health of a region’s residents.

Even so, close to 92 per cent of the world’s population live in areas that fail to meet WHO’s air quality
guidelines. As seen in Figure 9, the WHO has also reported that around 7 million people die
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annually from exposure to air pollution, which equates to one death out of every eight globally.
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