Human Rights Watch (HRW) has assured this Monday that the UAE fossil fuel industry (UAE), host of the COP28 Climate Summit, contributes to toxic air pollution with a devastating impact on human health, while the Emirati Government works to position itself as a world leader on climate issues. In a report titled You can smell oil in the air: UAE’s fossil fuels fuel toxic pollutionHRW documented the “alarmingly high levels of air pollution” in the Gulf country, creating “significant health risks for its citizens and residents, and contributing to the global climate crisis.”

The environment director for HRW, Richard Pearshouse, stated that “the fossil fuels pollute the air that people in the UAE breathe,” while “the Emirati government’s decimation of civil society means that no one can publicly express their concerns, let alone criticize the government’s failure to prevent this harm.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified air pollution as the “greatest environmental threat to human health” globally. UAE is one of the largest oil producers in the world and host seven of the so-called “carbon bombs”, the largest fossil fuel production projects in the world, HRW recalled. For this report, the NGO reviewed and analyzed government data on air pollution from 2018 to 2023, satellite data and government reports, and interviewed 12 migrant workers, including low-wage workers doing jobs abroad.

HRW’s analysis of levels of PM2.5 – very small particles that measure 2.5 micrometers or smaller and can penetrate deep into the lungs and easily enter the bloodstream – captured by 30 government ground monitoring stations in September 2023 revealed that, on average, they were almost three times higher than daily levels recommended by the WHO air quality guidelines. According to the latest data from the World Bank, the average annual exposure to PM2.5 in the UAE is more than eight times higher than what the WHO considers safe for human health.

According to the WHO, around 1,872 people die in the UAE every year due to outdoor air pollution. The planned expansion of fossil fuel exploitation also undermines the UAE government’s goals of reducing high levels of air pollution, HRW noted. “Air pollution is a dirty secret in the UAE,” Pearshouse said, adding that “if the government does not allow civil society to scrutinize and speak freely about the connection between air pollution and its fossil fuel industry“People will continue to suffer from health problems that are totally avoidable.”