Innovative Technology to Track Soot Pollution Aims to Empower Communities

Tue Oct 21 2025 22:52:32 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

A new initiative led by Al Gore introduces satellite and AI technology to monitor soot pollution in real-time, allowing residents to identify pollution sources in their neighborhoods.

The Climate TRACE coalition, founded by Al Gore, is expanding its capabilities to track fine particulate pollution—commonly known as soot—across 2,500 cities worldwide. Utilizing a network of 300 satellites and 30,000 sensors, the system aims to provide real-time data on pollution sources. The initiative seeks to empower communities to understand their exposure and hold polluters accountable, with hopes to integrate this information into everyday applications like weather reports.

A groundbreaking initiative led by former Vice President Al Gore aims to harness satellite technology and artificial intelligence to track soot pollution at the neighborhood level, similar to meteorological tracking for storms. Gore's project, an expansion of his Climate TRACE organization, seeks to visualize the origins of this pervasive environmental threat in real time, thereby empowering communities across 2,500 cities worldwide.

Particle pollution, particularly soot, is a silent killer responsible for the deaths of millions annually – a staggering conclusion drawn from multiple scientific studies. This initiative allows users to not only access long-term trends in pollution levels but aims to make daily updates available within a year, which could integrate smoothly into common platforms like weather applications.

The core of Gore's system involves 300 satellites and 30,000 ground-tracking sensors, employed to monitor over 137,000 sources of soot pollution. Alarmingly, nearly 4,000 of these emitters have been classified as 'super emitters,' releasing extortionate levels of this harmful pollutant into the atmosphere.

Gore stressed the necessity of clarity when it comes to air pollution, stating, Before AI, it was difficult for people to pinpoint where conventional air pollution came from. Empowering citizens with the knowledge of their local conditions is crucial; as my faith tradition says, 'the truth will set you free.' While soot itself does not directly contribute to climate change, it emerges from the same combustion processes involving fossil fuels as greenhouse gases.

Research conducted revealed cities like Karachi, Pakistan, and Guangzhou, China, as some of the most affected regions, highlighting the critical global nature of this issue. Gore's initiative not only addresses pollution awareness but also looks to educate and mobilize residents toward advocating for cleaner air and accountability from polluters.