Darwin’s air quality world’s fourth cleanest

Darwin’s air quality has been rated in a new survey. Check out the shock result.

Darwin has made the top five out of almost 400 cities in a worldwide study of air pollution and capital city air quality.

The latest AutoTrader global pollution survey ranked Darwin fourth out of almost 400 world capitals for global air cleanliness.

The study found Australia and other Oceanic countries were home to cities with the cleanest air.

It found cities with the lowest concentration levels of air pollution included Darwin, Hobart and Canberra, as well as New Zealand’s Wellington, and Samoa’s Apia.

It’s blue skies and clean air in Darwin.

AutoTrader’s Air Quality Index tracks sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide.

“To illustrate which cities have the lowest levels of air pollution around the world, we used Open Weather Map data to record the air particle concentrations in 393 global cities at six-month intervals since February 2021,” the survey said.

The survey put Darwin fourth out of 393 cities worldwide behind Funafuti in Tuvalu, Manaus, Brazil and Hobart.

Worst air quality scores in descending order were New Delhi and Kolkata in India and Shanghai in China.

Unleaded petrol vastly improved capital city air quality when it was introduced to Australia in the 1980s, but the Territory’s noticeable lack of industry also helps keep skies clear.

Territory-born Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she wasn’t surprised Darwin placed so highly in the AutoTrader index.

“I think the Territory is an amazing place,” she said.

“We’re really proud of our lifestyle and a big part of our lifestyle is our beautiful environment. We love getting out in the bush, going camping. We love our waterfalls and natural assets so it doesn’t surprise me at all that we’re an amazing place and that’s how we want to keep it.”

The survey findings are in stark contrast to one released by Tasmania University which found the legacy for Darwin in the midst of Dry Season burn-offs was amongst the worst air quality in the country.

Originally published as Darwin’s air quality world’s fourth cleanest