Two thirds of the European Union’s population may have been exposed to harmful levels of ozone pollution during last month’s record-breaking heatwave, a report exclusively shared with AFP warned Thursday.
Nearly 300 million people, including 100 million children and elderly people, faced higher-than-recommended levels of the toxic pollutant during the punishing heat in late June, according to the report from the NGO Global Witness.
The scale of this “invisible threat” highlights how “people are being forced to live through very dangerous conditions as a result of our dependence on fossil fuels,” the organization’s senior campaigner Flossie Boyd told AFP.
Ground-level ozone is different from the ozone layer in the atmosphere, which protects Earth from the Sun’s radiation — and is slowly recovering from damage made by refrigerants called CFCs.
On the ground, ozone is the main ingredient in smog and can cause breathing problems, damage lung tissue, trigger asthma attacks and lead to other health issues.
More than 63,000 deaths as well as billions of euros in crop damage were attributed to ozone pollution in 2023 alone, according to the European Environment Agency.
At ground level ozone is created by chemical reactions triggered by high temperatures and strong sunlight during heatwaves.
The new report was published just hours after the EU’s climate monitor Copernicus announced last month was Western Europe’s hottest June on record.
