A new analysis by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) has placed Lahore among cities with ‘extremely poor’ ozone levels. According to CAMS’ Atmosphere Watch report, at least 53 per cent of the city’s population was exposed to long-term ozone pollution in 2026, while the city suffers from extremely poor ozone concentration levels. The report says that exposure to ground-level ozone in the first eight months of 2026 was extremely high and persistent across Asia, which experienced the highest ozone exposures in this year. Ozone concentrations in all continents are likely to be affected by climate change as ground-level and tropospheric ozone formation is triggered by warm temperatures and sunlight. Therefore, in areas experiencing more heatwaves, local ozone concentrations will increase, partly offsetting the benefits of the mitigation strategies designed to reduce precursor pollutant emissions. Overall, the report claims that almost 40 per cent of the world’s total population has been exposed to extremely high levels of ozone, including 60 per cent of Asian citizens, so far in 2026. Lahore’s ozone problem is quite apart from its usual smog-related seasonal challenges, showing the multi-faceted nature of the air pollution issues facing Pakistan’s cities. And although Lahore might stand out in the Atmosphere Watch report, Pakistan’s other cities do not do too well either based on the ozone pollution map in the report.
As luck would have it, Lahore was once again ranked the world’s most polluted city in IQAir’s rankings earlier this week. The city recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 167 on Friday morning, around three times over the level that is considered ‘good’. The rest of the top five were also included: Dhaka, Bangladesh and Kolkata and Delhi, again highlighting South Asia’s status as having some of the worst air of any region in the world. It is also notable that Lahore appears to be experiencing some very bad air quality levels before smog season has truly kicked in. The local authorities have already announced some emergency measures to try and get ahead of the problem, including cracking down on well-known pollution sources such as crop-residue burning, waste burning, construction dust, brick kilns and vehicle emissions. It is good to see this proactive action and one will have to wait and see whether it is enough to curb the smog menace.
However, improving overall air quality in Lahore and Pakistan’s other large cities will be a different kind of challenge. While what local authorities do is important, it is only part of the answer. The South Asian region’s air is bad, and fixing it will require regional-level cooperation and solutions. Individual cities and even countries can only do so much on their own since ultimately air pollution does not recognise any borders. As such, poor pollution standards or agricultural waste burning in one country will eventually affect its neighbours too, and the smog problem in Lahore has been linked to agricultural waste burning across the eastern border. If South Asia wants better air, it will have to work
towards it together.
