The United Arab Emirates is choking under “alarmingly high” air pollution levels fed by its fossil fuel industry, Human Rights Watch warned on Monday as the oil-rich country hosts the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
Air pollution is a “dirty secret” buried by a stifling of dissent in the UAE, the rights group said, adding that bad air created poses “major health risks” for its population.
Smog engulfed the city state after the climate talks began on Thursday and hit officially “unhealthy” levels over the weekend.
“Even as the United Arab Emirates government works to burnish its image as a global climate leader… the country’s vast fossil fuel production and use spew toxic pollutants into the air,” the report said.
