The 24-page report, “‘You Can Smell Petrol in the Air’: UAE Fossil Fuels Feed Toxic Pollution” documents alarmingly high air pollution levels in the UAE, which create major health risks for its citizens and residents and contribute to the global climate crisis. The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil producers and home to seven so-called “carbon bombs,” the world’s largest fossil fuel production projects. Air pollution and climate change are directly linked, as the burning of fossil fuels contributes to air pollution and drives climate change.
Human Rights Watch also reviewed satellite remote sensing data of tropospheric NO₂ concentrations from Copernicus’ Sentinel-5 dataset for September 2023. Though tropospheric values cannot be used to assess the air quality at the ground level, they provide insights at a global scale and useful information on areas not covered by ground sensor stations. Human Rights Watch reviewed air quality monitoring data provided by the AirNow Platform which contains historical data on PM2.5 concentration