Heatwaves and wildfires helped expose 34 percent of the world’s population to “extremely poor” ozone air quality in the first eight months of 2026, according to a European Union report published Wednesday. Asia recorded the highest exposure, while ozone pollution remained difficult to curb despite decades of progress in reducing other harmful emissions.
Heatwaves and wildfires combined with human-caused emissions this year to expose one third of the world's population to extremely high levels of ozone pollution, a European Union report said on Wednesday.
