![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/20250722_110616-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe talk, titled “Health Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change,” began by framing air pollution as a major global environmental challenge with deep historical roots. Citing foundational research like the Harvard Six Cities Study, Prof. Zhu reminded the audience of the strong evidence linking fine particulate matter (PM2.5<\/sub>) to mortality. He highlighted the World Health Organization’s (WHO) updated Air Quality Guidelines from 2021, which established more stringent targets for pollutants like PM2.5<\/sub>, PM10<\/sub>, and NO2<\/sub> based on overwhelming new evidence of their health effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Zhu then delved into the specific health consequences of air pollution, which impact the entire human life span. He detailed the comprehensive mechanisms through which pollutants cause harm, including systemic inflammation and oxidative stress that lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A significant portion of the talk focused on the severe impacts on reproduction, with studies showing clear links between PM2.5<\/sub> exposure and increased risks of pregnancy loss (stillbirth and miscarriage), and adverse birth outcomes across multiple continents. Furthermore, the presentation emphasized that not all particulate matter is equal; components like black carbon (BC) from combustion sources are particularly toxic, contributing disproportionately to mortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plenary pivoted to the amplifying effect of climate change, framing it unequivocally as a “health crisis”. Prof. Zhu pointed to 2024 being the warmest year on record and the UN Secretary-General\u2019s warning of an era of “global boiling” as clear signals of the threat. This warming leads to more extreme weather, creating cascading consequences. A critical example explored was the link between heat, drought, and wildfires, which generate massive plumes of smoke and expose populations to extremely high levels of hazardous air pollution. Studies show that PM2.5<\/sub> from wildfires has a more potent effect on acute respiratory illness than pollution from other sources. The talk also explored the synergistic effects of compound events, where co-exposure to heatwaves and ozone pollution creates a greater health risk than either stressor alone.<\/p>\n\n\n Relevance and a Call for Integrated Action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Prof. Zhu’s talk is of profound relevance to the atmospheric science community. For IAMAS<\/strong>, it perfectly illustrates the association’s core mission by connecting fundamental atmospheric processes to critical societal impacts. For iCACGP<\/strong>, it reinforces the importance of studying atmospheric chemistry and pollution as well as climate change, as the chemical components of the atmosphere have direct and severe consequences for human well-being. For the BACO symposium<\/strong>, which convenes scientists from across atmospheric and oceanic disciplines, the presentation served as a powerful call for the interdisciplinary research needed to address this nexus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talk concluded by showcasing frameworks designed to tackle this challenge, such as the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) cross-cutting activity known as ARCH (AiR Pollution – Climate Change – Health Effects Nexus), which aims to translate science into services that protect global health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Busan, South Korea In a compelling keynote address at the BACO 2025 symposium, Professor Tong Zhu of Peking University delivered the main IAMAS plenary talk, providing a comprehensive overview of one of the most urgent challenges of our time: the intersecting health impacts of air pollution and climate change. Representing both iCACGP and IAMAS, Prof. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.iamas.org\/icacgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/image.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n