Climate TRACE 278d ago

New Climate TRACE tool enables anyone to visualize air pollution sources and pathways around the globe. On Wednesday, September 24th, 2025, during Climate Week NYC, Climate TRACE released a first-of-its-kind tool that makes the microscopic threat of harmful particulate matter (PM2.5) visible to all. The tool shows the flow of air pollution plumes out of sources that contribute to the climate crisis and into the air that 1.6 billion people breathe in more than 2,500 urban areas. The new tool shows in striking detail the direct connection between the climate crisis and the air pollution that is a significant threat to public health. With nearly 9 million deaths from PM2.5 pollution around the world each year, identifying sources and showing which communities are most at risk is an urgent priority. “Many people have long known that they live in the shadow of major emitters, and these global data only validate and quantify what those communities have been saying. But in other cases, dangerous pollution — and exactly who is causing it — can be surprisingly invisible,” said Gavin McCormick, co-founder of Climate TRACE and executive director of WattTime. How it works Climate TRACE’s air pollution tracking tool pairs Climate TRACE’s highly detailed global inventory of greenhouse gases and air pollutants with advanced atmospheric modeling of 365 days’ worth of local weather patterns around each emitting facility conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab. By pairing population data with data showing where pollution travels, anyone can easily understand whether they are close enough to a source of greenhouse gas emissions to breathe in harmful PM2.5 co-pollutants. Climate TRACE tracks nearly all sources of human-caused PM2.5 pollution, but has only visualized the flow of that pollution for power plants, heavy manufacturing sites, ports, refineries, and mines in the 2,572 urban areas where they exist. It is important to note that the tool does not represent all sources of PM2.5 in these urban areas. There are many other sources of this type of air pollution – from fires, to dust, and more – that are common, particularly in cities around the world. To learn more, visit www.climatetrace.org/air-pollution.