Middle East nations made up four of the 10 most air-polluted countries last year, an annual study has found.
Behind only Chad, Iraq had the highest concentration of particulate matter (PM2.5) adjusted for population weighting, followed by Pakistan in third. Bahrain came fourth after being eighth in 2021.
The 2022 World Air Quality Report, conducted by Swiss firm IQAir, studied levels of PM2.5 from 7,323 cities in 131 countries, regions and territories. PM2.5 are particles small enough to penetrate deep into the respiratory tract and lungs, causing or exacerbating illnesses such as asthma and heart issues.
A recent study involving chess players found high levels can affect decision-making — and can even reach babies in the womb.
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Of the six major pollutants used to classify air quality, PM2.5 is considered the most harmful. The World Health Organisation recommends annual concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed an average of 5 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³).
Iraq's annual reading for last year was 80.1 µg/m3, and Bahrain's was 66.6 µg/m3. Kuwait's was 55.8 µg/m3, Egypt had 46.5 µg/m3 and the UAE 45.9.
An estimated 4.2 million people die prematurely from air pollution every year, the WHO found.
"Citizens in only 10 per cent of the global countries, regions and territories are breathing air that does not pose a risk to their health," the report released on Tuesday read.
The findings are a good indication of global levels but not comprehensive — they cover only nations and areas with air-pollution sensors that measure PM2.5.
Some nations that had previously appeared on the list provided insufficient data to be included this year, such as Oman and Afghanistan. Last year Oman was the sixth most PM2.5-polluted country.
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But others are accepting their responsibility to track air pollution in efforts to reduce it. Dubai has the most monitoring stations in the region, with almost a fifth of the total.
Although car and industry pollution is a factor in air quality in the region, dust storms are a “major source” of natural pollution, the report said.
Baghdad, the region’s most-polluted city, showed a nearly 75 per cent increase last year, going from 49.7 μg/m3 to 86.7 μg/m3. Iraq was hit by 10 sandstorms in only two months last year, with 5,000 people needing hospital treatment.
The situation is forecast to deteriorate as water shortage drives more dust. The county’s environment ministry has warned that over the next two decades Iraq could endure an average of 272 days of sandstorms a year, rising to more than 300 by 2050.
The World Air Quality Report came only days after scientists at Australian Monash University released findings that almost nowhere on Earth was safe from air pollution in 2019.
Tuesday's report supports this finding. Only 13 of the 131 countries included had average levels of PM2.5 at or below the WHO's safe annual recommendation of 5 µg/m3.
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
MATCH INFO
Hoffenheim v Liverpool
Uefa Champions League play-off, first leg
Location: Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Kick-off: Tuesday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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