Nitrogen dioxide over Europe 2019 and 2024

For decades, economic growth and fossil-fuel consumption have gone hand in hand. As cities have expanded, rising prosperity has often been accompanied by worsening air pollution. New research, however, suggests that this relationship is changing – and satellite data are helping to prove it.

Using data from Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite mission together with information on gross domestic product (GDP), researchers have found that many of the world’s largest cities are now growing economically while reducing their fossil-fuel-related emissions.

The study, led by Norway’s NILU research institute and published recently in Nature Cities, analysed 2475 major urban areas around the world and found that almost 80% of them are achieving higher levels of prosperity alongside cleaner air.

The maps show the difference in column densities of nitrogen dioxide over Europe in 2019 (left) compared to 2024 (right).

Read full story: Cleaner air and prosperity can go hand in hand