Tell Secretary Rubio: Make Air Pollution Impossible to Hide

Sometimes fighting pollution starts with something as simple as telling people what is actually in the air they breathe — and making that pollution impossible to hide.

In 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing installed an air-quality monitor on its roof and began publishing the readings in real time. The results sometimes clashed with official accounts of the city’s notorious smog, helping expose just how dangerous the pollution really was and fueling public pressure for action.

It worked.

The State Department expanded the effort, eventually operating monitors at more than 80 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. In places where reliable local data was limited, those monitors gave people an independent look at the pollution surrounding them.

Then the Trump administration shut the reporting down.

In March 2025, the State Department stopped transmitting the data, citing budget constraints. Now new research suggests that losing that transparency may have come with a real cost.

Researchers examined 46 cities where U.S. diplomatic missions stopped reporting air quality and found that a satellite measure of airborne pollution rose substantially afterward. By September 2025, aerosol optical depth was about 33% higher than before monitoring stopped; by November, it remained about 24% higher.

The researchers caution that the study cannot prove ending U.S. monitoring caused the increase. But earlier research found that embassy monitoring was associated with significant pollution reductions and increased public interest in air quality.

That should not be surprising. Polluters and governments face more pressure to clean up dirty air when the public can see reliable, independent measurements of just how bad it is.

And this matters for the climate, too. Scientists use air-quality data to study pollution and climate-related threats, including wildfire smoke and extreme heat.

The State Department now says it is in the process of restoring public reporting, but it has provided no timetable. Secretary of State Marco Rubio should make sure that restoration is completed and that the program has the resources to endure. A relatively small investment in monitoring can give scientists critical data, help communities understand the air they breathe, and create the transparency needed to drive pollution reductions.

Please sign the petition urging Secretary Rubio to fully restore the State Department’s global air-quality monitoring program.

The petition to Secretary of State Marco Rubio reads: Fully restore U.S. air-quality monitoring at embassies and consulates around the world, resume reliable public reporting, and provide the resources necessary to keep this critical pollution and climate data available to scientists and the public.

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Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/09/15/pollution-spikes-after-trump-halted-global-air-monitoring-efforts-report-says/