24 Environmental Laboratory TALKING POINT How did COP28 address air pollution?


This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP28, proved to be quite the oddity. Only the second Conference to be hosted by a recognised petrostate (Qatar got the gig in 2012), it seemed obvious right up until the very last second that it would produce a regressive, paltry agreement – and yet, it’s been widely hailed as the fi rst international commitment to abolishing fossil fuels. But it managed to make another unpredicted leap, too: formally linking the international struggle against air pollution to climate action.


Those who work on air quality know that the most consequential species of air pollution for public health is particulate matter (PM) at 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5


) in length, as these particles are small enough to enter the


bloodstream through the lungs. One common type of PM2.5 is black carbon, a by-product of incompletely combusted hydrocarbons like fossil fuels or organic matter (and their derivatives). It’s one of a small group of air pollutants that function as both warming agents and toxins. As the Clean Air Fund put it earlier this month in a report that called on COP28 to devote more investment to cleaning it up, black carbon ‘sits uniquely at the centre of climate and health crises.’ For instance, a literature review compiled by the World Health Organisation in 2012 found ‘suffi cient evidence of associations of all-cause and cardiopulmonary mortality with long-term average BC [black carbon] exposure.’ That


same year, a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives used established formulas to model the climate and health impacts of existing methods of reducing black carbon concentrations, fi nding that reducing average concentrations by just 23-34% could avoid anywhere from 600,000 to 4.4mn annual premature deaths worldwide by 2030. At the same time, it’s been well established that black carbon has a positive radiative forcing, meaning it increases the wattage of solar energy absorbed relative to that re-emitted. In short, it contributes to warming – but only in the short-term! Whereas CO2


sticks around for 100


years and methane stays in the atmosphere for around 12, black carbon is gone in weeks and days. Nevertheless, if concentrations are continually replenished, as they are today, black carbon remains a notable driver of global average temperatures. Devoting eff ort to reducing black carbon, then, would be a (relatively) cheap, easy victory for the climate and a huge victory for public health.


At COP28, this synergy was on full display. The fourth day of the Conference was Health Day, a fi rst for any COP (earning prestigious applause from The Lancet), out of which came the Declaration on Climate and Health, signed by over 120 parties, recognising ‘the benefi ts for health from deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including [...] lower air pollution’. The day before Health Day, it was announced that 11 philanthropy funds, including the


Bezos Earth Fund, the MacArthur Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sequoia Climate Foundation, had jointly pledged some $450mn over the next three years ‘to help catalyze a faster phase-down of non-CO2


super climate


pollutants’, primarily methane but also ‘fl uorinated gases, nitrous oxide, black carbon and ground-level ozone.’ For the entire Conference, the Clean Air Fund raised awareness of the connection between particulate matter and climate change with three Pollution Pods, geodesic domes in which delegates could experience the air of Beijing, New Delhi or London. Another welcome surprise from COP28, then.


Winners of the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge 2023 to measure air quality consolidate themselves on the global air quality monitoring market


Bettair has been awarded for being the manufacturer of the most accurate multi-pollutant sensor for outdoor environments, at the recent AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge 2023, following an independent evaluation where many technologies measuring air quality were compared.


At the recent AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge 2023, Bettair retained its rating for providing the most accurate outdoor sensor system, without the need for recalibration. Bettair’s compact instruments, which are renowned worldwide for their accuracy, as well as being extremely reliable and robust, passed all the logistical and operational tests of the challenge.


Bettair distinguished themselves in the various tests set by AIRLAB, by providing a very high level of data quality without any human intervention needed to adjust the data. This award is a testament to the growing demand in the environmental sector for autonomous and self-suffi cient measurement systems that guarantee maximum return on investment.


The award, which was presented during the closing ceremony of this benchmark competition in the air quality sector in Bangkok and Paris simultaneously, refl ects the concern for air quality as one of the main challenges facing cities. The authorities and the public need detailed and personalised information on local air pollution levels, as a basis for understanding and acting to improve its quality.


“I want to share the award with the team. Our achievements at the AIRLAB Challenge refl ect our dedication to quality and innovation”, says Josep Perello, CEO and co-founder of Bettair, with a special mention to the work and involvement of the CTO, Leonardo Santiago and CSO, Francisco Ramírez.


Josep Perello added, “Bettair is at the forefront of the integration of Machine Learning in Environmental Management thanks to its Data Science team. This innovative approach allows us to deliver solutions that signifi cantly improve ease of use and reduce total cost of operation, while maintaining the highest standards of performance and reliability, without the need for recalibration and human intervention”.


Given that outdoor air pollution causes 4.2 million premature deaths globally per year according to the World Health Organization (WHO), reliable data on air quality is critical to environmental policy and health. Given this scenario and thanks to the growing development of microsensor technology, the independent regional air quality observatory for the Paris Airparif metropolitan region, and its open innovation laboratory AIRLAB, have decided to organise the AIRLAB Microsensors Challenge periodically.


This event aims to provide a comprehensive and independent evaluation of the performance of microsensors, through a panel of international experts, under real conditions of use. Since 2018, it has evaluated 164 devices over four separate events, guiding users in selecting the best sensors and fostering innovation in this fi eld.


For the fi rst time, the tests were carried out in both France and Thailand to help better understand the impact of weather conditions, and the different levels and sources of pollution, on the performance of microsensors. As there was no preceding data for Thailand, this challenge was also an important exercise in setting benchmarks for Thai air quality readings. Under these


circumstances, Bettair’s nodes proved to be accurate, as well as very reliable and robust in providing excellent quality data delivery. The award panel also took into account how Bettair’s extremely compact device was capable of measuring a multitude of pollution parameters, including noise levels.


One of the key highlights of Bettair’s technology is its ability to obtain accurate measurements without the need for constant calibration or any reliance on data from external sources. This independent and autonomous approach ensures the reliability and accuracy of the measurement, even in locations where there is no established infrastructure to measure air quality. As a result, Bettair achieved outstanding results in the main category: Most accurate multi-pollutant sensor system.


Josep Perelló, CEO de Bettair, en la entrega de premios en Bangkok (Tailanda)


Bettair also received an award for best overall performance in ozone monitoring, maintaining its leadership for ozone pollution since 2021. Bettair also achieved commendable results in both Thailand and France: the highest score in its class for CO and NO measurement and joint highest score for PM2.5


.


According to the jury, “the Bettair static node provides excellent performance for O3, being the leader of this contaminant in the previous and current edition of the challenge. Its performance was consistent in the two outdoor static deployments, varying from very good to excellent for particulate material measurements and average for NO2


list of specifi c contaminants, it scores very well on the utility-scale for monitoring applications.”


Along with celebrating these prestigious accolades, Bettair has also announced its strategic partnership with dnota, a collaboration forged to drive business growth. This strategic alliance positions both companies as key players in the air quality sector. Drawing on its more than 40 years of experience in the conventional air quality sector, dnota has created a global network of distributors, ensuring Bettair’s presence in more than 40 countries and consolidating its role as a major contributor to the air quality market.


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