OPEC Leads Again...in Pollution
Recently, a Swiss air-quality company called IQAir released their annual world air quality report, which provides a review of air quality data compiled from over 30,000 monitoring stations across the world.
The stations report on PM2.5 air pollution, which is fine particle pollution up to 2.5 microns in diameter…about the size of bacteria, dust mites, or pet dander, but smaller than pollen or dust.
PM2.5 air pollution can come from a variety of sources, though most of it is man-made, resulting from vehicle emissions, industrial emissions, power generation, and construction. However, some natural sources can contribute heavily, such as wildfires. Thus, in North America, various Canadian cities reported unusually high PM2.5 pollution in 2023 primarily due to the wildfires that ravaged the entire country, destroying over 45 million acres.
Excluding outlier events like the Canadian wildfires, a pattern becomes evident. Developing nations understandably score low, as they may lack the funds necessary to embrace cleaner technologies and their citizens do what they must just to stay fed and warm. However, for major oil-producing countries to score poorly is a different story. Hydrocarbon rich nations possess a valuable resource, and there are no excuses for continued disregard for our planet.
Of 12 OPEC nations, very limited data is available from three countries: Equatoria Guinea, Iran, and Venezuela. Some nations do not support government air quality monitoring, and make it difficult for non-profit or non-governmental organizations to set up monitoring. However, from past city-level data, many Iranian and Venezuelan cities score very high levels of PM2.5 pollution.
The other nine OPEC countries average 28th worst air quality in the world, out of 134 ranked countries, lead by Iraq and the UAE (6th and 7th worst air quality in the world). Even Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC producer, ranks 30th in the world, comparable to many developing countries that lack the financial strength of the oil producing behemoth.
For comparison, the USA ranks as 102nd most polluted, ahead of Japan, Austria, France, and Belgium, and about in line with Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
The above observations are not intended to imply that oil and gas production activities are the cause of the poor rankings of OPEC countries. Rather, it shows a more general disregard by these oil-rich countries for world health as a whole. We interpret the data to mean that these countries, who produce a valuable resource, are not serious about investing in the health of their people, their nation, or the people of the world.
ERGF is a supporter of responsible, domestic oil and gas production. While the USA is not a perfect producer of our hydrocarbon resources, and a lot of improvement needs to be made, our country is doing better than OPEC nations.
The USA is the only nation with a double-edged sword for defending our environment. That is, we are the only oil producing country in the world that allows for the private (non-governmental) ownership of mineral rights and oversight over development. Where governmental regulations fall short or lack sufficient bite to ensure responsible development of our natural resources, private owners can negotiate additional protections and penalties in their leases to help ensure responsible development. ERGF advocates for the responsible development of our country’s natural resources, with primary focus on environmental oversight ahead of profit.