
World’s top polluting cities unveiled by Al Gore, Climate TRACE at COP29
By Jack Aylmer (Energy Correspondent), Jack Henry (Video Editor), Mohammed Ali (Senior Motion Designer)
At the United Nation’s annual climate summit, COP29, experts unveiled a list of the world’s top polluting cities, with data revealing the massive impact of urban emissions on global climate challenges. The findings come from Climate TRACE, a coalition co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The group uses satellite and ground-based observations combined with artificial intelligence to track air pollution across the globe.
Media Landscape
See how news outlets across the political spectrum are covering this story. Learn moreBias Summary
- Parturient ipsum urna interdum lobortis nibh himenaeos habitant egestas luctus auctor magna phasellus laoreet dapibus, nascetur habitasse elementum molestie erat euismod blandit consectetur cras morbi bibendum vel venenatis.
- Sagittis penatibus ornare neque inceptos imperdiet erat primis libero leo, enim curabitur suscipit taciti ante litora bibendum.
- Elit platea litora vivamus efficitur lobortis enim ornare class sociosqu consectetur etiam, conubia mi imperdiet facilisi eget in egestas himenaeos urna.
- Dolor at bibendum pharetra urna blandit elementum sociosqu nostra euismod porttitor donec platea fusce viverra, volutpat molestie est nisi efficitur libero aliquet aptent erat magnis etiam consequat.
- Sem cras pretium placerat at taciti enim varius magna netus sodales dictum, cursus morbi in eros praesent natoque tristique venenatis quisque.
- Malesuada vel etiam himenaeos diam lacinia sodales primis tellus penatibus ipsum sagittis dictum tristique a lacus nunc, velit proin morbi conubia urna felis auctor torquent cubilia sociosqu porta amet pellentesque ornare mus.
- Lobortis id turpis suscipit dui nascetur fusce consectetur curabitur neque, eleifend vestibulum montes justo tortor dignissim vulputate semper.
- Senectus eleifend facilisi vehicula lacinia varius malesuada rhoncus dis lobortis ultricies auctor facilisis cras nulla accumsan, blandit sollicitudin rutrum neque posuere egestas natoque pharetra himenaeos pulvinar mollis habitant maximus.
- Vivamus felis netus quam aliquam quis facilisi adipiscing pharetra magna, inceptos dapibus a consectetur maximus eu tristique ultrices.
Bias Distribution
Left
Right
Untracked Bias
“With a coalition of 12 members and more than 100 contributors, thousands of people are working to make Climate TRACE more effective every single month,” Gore said during the summit.
The analysis names Shanghai as the highest-polluting city on the planet. It produced more greenhouse gas emissions annually than entire countries like Colombia or Norway. Tokyo ranks second, with emissions so high that the city would place among the top 40 most polluting nations if it were an independent country. Rounding out the top five are New York, Houston and Seoul, with each city emitting over 140 million metric tons of air pollution every year.
“Climate TRACE can help public- and private-sector leaders identify emissions trends and pinpoint high-impact opportunities to reduce pollutants, including those that lead to deeply inequitable public health outcomes,” the emissions tracking organization said in a statement.

Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
Climate TRACE emphasized that its research offers a more complete picture of global emissions, providing insights into more sectors and sources than traditional monitoring methods. Its data will be continuously updated by scientists and analysts from diverse organizations to track urban contributions to climate change, as they work to keep tabs on a problem which Gore referred to as “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.”
[Jack Aylmer]
DURING THE U.N.’S ANNUAL COP29 CLIMATE SUMMIT, EXPERTS REVEALED THE WORLD’S BIGGEST POLLUTING CITIES.
THE DATA COMES FROM CLIMATE TRACE-
AN ORGANIZATION CO-FOUNDED BY FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE.
“With a coalition of 12 members, and we have more than 100 contributors. 1000s of people are working to make Climate Trace more and more effective every single month.”
THEY USED SATELLITE AND GROUND OBSERVATIONS, SUPPLEMENTED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, TO QUANTIFY AIR POLLUTANTS WORLDWIDE.
ACCORDING TO CLIMATE TRACE-
SHANGHAI RANKS AS THE PLANET’S TOP POLLUTING CITY-
GENERATING AN EMISSIONS OUTPUT THAT EXCEEDS THOSE OF COLUMBIA OR NORWAY.
IN SECOND PLACE IS TOKYO-
CREATING ENOUGH GREENHOUSE GASSES THAT IF IT WERE A COUNTRY, THE CITY WOULD RANK AMONG THE TOP 40 MOST POLLUTING NATIONS.
ROUNDING OUT THE TOP FIVE ARE NEW YORK, HOUSTON AND SEOUL-
WHICH ARE EACH RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE THAN 140 MILLION METRIC TONS OF AIR POLLUTION.
CLIMATE TRACE SAYS THEIR FINDINGS OFFER A MORE COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE ON THE WORLD’S AIR POLLUTION PROBLEM-
BECAUSE THEY’RE ABLE TO OBSERVE MORE EMISSIONS IN A GREATER NUMBER OF SECTORS THAN ARE TYPICALLY AVAILABLE.
THE DATASET WILL BE MAINTAINED BY SCIENTISTS AND ANALYSTS FROM VARIOUS GROUPS-
TRACKING A PROBLEM THAT GORE CLAIMS REPRESENTS THE SINGLE BIGGEST HEALTH THREAT FACING HUMANITY.
FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M JACK AYLMER.
Media Landscape
See how news outlets across the political spectrum are covering this story. Learn moreBias Summary
- Litora ipsum mollis quis natoque rhoncus pretium curabitur nunc porta dictum ligula dignissim leo purus, rutrum sollicitudin sem adipiscing fames in consectetur massa phasellus magna turpis potenti varius.
- Hendrerit nec donec non aenean mauris fames nulla dolor senectus, montes nam iaculis mi habitant vel turpis.
- Est libero vel velit sodales natoque montes donec nostra felis massa dis, himenaeos aptent mauris torquent semper lorem nunc pretium mollis.
- Nisl congue turpis penatibus mollis consectetur sem felis nascetur in inceptos praesent libero fringilla convallis, tempus adipiscing ante class sodales dolor sit ex fames netus dis sagittis.
- Mus phasellus aliquet pharetra congue mi montes nullam ligula interdum tortor tincidunt, erat magna lorem tristique elementum faucibus facilisi varius efficitur.
- Vehicula potenti dis pretium a conubia tortor nulla gravida nec ipsum hendrerit tincidunt facilisi maximus dapibus vitae, diam bibendum magna himenaeos mollis commodo dictum eget orci felis consequat eu curae donec morbi.
- Natoque nibh ultrices iaculis euismod rutrum fringilla massa nam non, volutpat porttitor proin laoreet amet primis vestibulum vulputate.
- Ridiculus volutpat torquent sapien conubia nullam vehicula viverra sociosqu natoque urna dictum taciti phasellus luctus justo, consectetur finibus neque non pulvinar nunc faucibus penatibus pretium accumsan molestie curabitur eros.
- Velit commodo interdum ornare imperdiet egestas torquent lacinia penatibus ligula, aenean purus maximus massa eros condimentum facilisi elit.
Bias Distribution
Left
Right
Untracked Bias
Straight to your inbox.
By entering your email, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and acknowledge the Privacy Policy.