The world’s most polluting cities are revealed at COP29…

The world’s five most polluting cities have been revealed – and they’re all in Asia and the US. 

Climate Trace, an organisation co-founded by Al Gore, found that seven states or provinces spew out more than one billion metric tons of greenhouse gases every year.

At a city level, Shanghai tops the list, having emitted a whopping 256 million metric tons of greenhouse gases last year. 

Other cities at the top of the list include New York, Houston, and Tokyo.  

However, one site in Texas was found to be the worst polluting site in the entire world. 

‘One of the sites in the Permian Basin in Texas is by far the No. 1 worst polluting site in the entire world,’ Gore said. 

‘And maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, but I think of how dirty some of these sites are in Russia and China and so forth. 

‘But Permian Basin is putting them all in the shade.’

The data comes as nations at UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan are trying to set new targets to cut such emissions and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. 

Using satellite and ground observations, supplemented by AI, Climate Trace set out to quantify carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, as well as other traditional air pollutants worldwide, including for the first time in more than 9,000 urban areas.

Their analysis revealed that Earth’s total carbon dioxide and methane pollution grew 0.7 per cent to 61.2 billion metric tons with the short-lived but extra potent methane rising 0.2 per cent. 

The figures are higher than other datasets ‘because we have such comprehensive coverage and we have observed more emissions in more sectors than are typically available,’ said Gavin McCormick, Climate Trace’s co-founder.

Shanghai’s 256 million metric tons of greenhouse gases led all cities and exceeded those from the nations of Colombia or Norway. 

Tokyo’s 250 million metric tons would rank in the top 40 of nations if it were a country, while New York City’s 160 million metric tons and Houston’s 150 million metric tons would be in the top 50 of countrywide emissions.

Seoul, South Korea, ranks fifth among cities at 142 million metric tons.

China, India, Iran, Indonesia and Russia had the biggest increases in emissions from 2022 to 2023, while Venezuela, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States had the biggest decreases in pollution.

The dataset – maintained by scientists and analysts from various groups – also looked at traditional pollutants such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and other chemicals associated with dirty air. 

Burning fossil fuels releases both types of pollution, according to Gore.

This ‘represents the single biggest health threat facing humanity,’ he said.

Gore criticized the hosting of climate talks, called COPs, by Azerbaijan, an oil nation and site of the world’s first oil wells, and by the United Arab Emirates last year.

‘It’s unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree,’ he said.

‘Next year in Brazil, we’ll see a change in that pattern. 

‘But, you know, it’s not good for the world community to give the No. 1 polluting industry in the world that much control over the whole process.’

Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for more to be done on climate change and has sought to slow deforestation since returning for a third term as president. 

But Brazil last year produced more oil than both Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

On Friday, former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, former UN climate chief Christina Figueres and leading climate scientists released a letter calling for ‘an urgent overhaul’ on climate talks.

The letter said the ‘global climate process has been captured and is no longer fit for purpose’ in response to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev saying that oil and gas are a ‘gift of the gods.’