Recent Reports
Recent reports related to sustainable development, climate change, and environmental issues:
1. State of global air 2024
Children are uniquely vulnerable to air pollution, and damage can start in the womb with health effects that can last a lifetime.
The State of Global Air 2024 report highlights how air pollution was the second leading risk
factor for death among children under 5 years in 2021, after malnutrition. In 2021, more than
700,000 deaths in children under 5 years were linked to air pollution; this represents 15 per
cent of all global deaths in children under five and means that every day almost 2000 children
under 5 years die because of health impacts linked to air pollution. The numbers include more
than 570,000 neonatal deaths.
This report also shows that in 2021, air pollution was linked to 34 per cent of preterm births
globally. Complications associated with preterm birth are the leading cause of death in children
under 5. Preterm babies who survive may face lifelong health consequences due to disabilities
and developmental delays.
The report also highlights the bidirectional relationship between air pollution and climate
change. PM2.5 air pollution comes from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass in sectors such
as transportation, residential homes, coal-burning power plants, industrial activities, and
wildfires, many of the same sources that contribute to greenhouse gases.
The report also presents information on exposures to and health impacts of exposure to
common air pollutants including fine particulate matter, ozone, and for the first time, nitrogen
dioxide.
The report was produced by the State of Global Air Initiative, a collaboration between the
Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of
Disease project in partnership with UNICEF.
The report is based on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD 2021) of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), producing estimates of the impact of 88 environmental, behavioral, and dietary risk factors on health across 204 countries and global territories. The estimates are
based on the globally modeled burden of disease estimates of IHME and do not reflect official
country reporting.
https://ceh.unicef.org/events-and-resources/knowledge-library/state-global-air-2024
2. Government of Canada welcomes reports from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
3. Latest environmental indicators
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/latest.html
