Kevin Cromar and Noussair Lazrak

Director of Health, Environment, and Policy, Kevin Cromar, and Research Associate Noussair Lazrak have authored “The Essential Role of Air Quality Monitoring at U.S. Embassies and Consulates,” in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The article highlights the critical importance of air-quality monitoring conducted by U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, which protects U.S. citizens living abroad, strengthens diplomatic efforts to reduce global emissions, and supports scientific research on air pollution. It also underscores the negative impact of the U.S. Department of State’s recent discontinuation of public reporting of these data and argues that maintaining transparency is vital.

The authors describe how the embassy monitoring network provides a unique and reliable source of real-time pollution data in many regions, enables targeted health-protection measures, encourages stronger foreign pollution controls that benefit the United States, and supplies essential ground-truth data for satellite observations and air-quality modeling. They call for the restoration of public access to these data to safeguard the health, diplomatic, and scientific benefits the program has long provided.

Read the Article