Wildfires are reversing decades of clean air standards in Canada and the U.S., according to new data published Thursday.

Researchers at the University of Chicago released their annual Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), which tracks air pollution and how it impacts life expectancies. This year’s report analyzed data collected in 2023.

That year, as Canada faced its worst wildfire season in history, burning over 40 million acres of land, the flames caused air pollution concentrations to rise to levels not seen since 2011 in the United States and since 1998 in Canada, the years AQLI began recording air quality data. Both Canada and the U.S. had made great strides in lowering air pollution in the past—but the wildfires reversed that progress. The two countries saw the highest increases in ai

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