The world's most polluting cities are revealed at COP29 as frustration grows at fossil fuel presence

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Cities in Asia and the United States emit the most heat-trapping gas that feeds climate change, with Shanghai the most polluting, according to new data that combines observations and artificial intelligence.

Nations at U.N. climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan are trying to set new targets to cut such emissions and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. The data comes as climate officials and activists alike are growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as the talks' — and the world's — inability to clamp down on planet-warming fossil fuels and the countries and companies that promote them.

Seven states or provinces spew more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, all of them in China, except Texas, which ranks sixth, according to new data from an organization co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and released Friday at COP29.

Using satellite and ground observations, supplemented by artificial intelligence to fill in gaps, Climate Trace sought to quantify heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, as well as other traditional air pollutants worldwide, including for the first time in more than 9,000 urban areas.

Earth's total carbon dioxide and methane pollution grew 0.7% to 61.2 billion metric tons with the short-lived but extra potent methane rising 0.2%. The figures are higher than other datasets “because we have such comprehensive coverage and we have observed more emissions in more sectors than are typically available,” said Gavin McCormick, Climate Trace's co-founder.

Shanghai's 256 million metric tons of greenhouse gases led all cities and exceeded those from the nations of Colombia or Norway. Tokyo's 250 million metric tons would rank in the top 40 of nations if it were a country, while New York City's 160 million metric tons and Houston's 150 million metric tons would be in the top 50 of countrywide emissions. Seoul, South Korea, ranks fifth among cities at 142 million metric tons.

“One of the sites in the Permian Basin in Texas is by far the No. 1 worst polluting site in the entire world,” Gore said. “And maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, but I think of how dirty some of these sites are in Russia and China and so forth. But Permian Basin is putting them all in the shade.”

China, India, Iran, Indonesia and Russia had the biggest increases in emissions from 2022 to 2023, while Venezuela, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States had the biggest decreases in pollution.

The dataset — maintained by scientists and analysts from various groups — also looked at traditional pollutants such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and other chemicals associated with dirty air. Burning fossil fuels releases both types of pollution, Gore said.

This “represents the single biggest health threat facing humanity,” Gore said.

On Friday, former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, former U.N. climate chief Christina Figueres and leading climate scientists released a letter calling for “an urgent overhaul” on climate talks.

The letter said the “global climate process has been captured and is no longer fit for purpose” in response to Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev saying that oil and gas are a “gift of the gods.”

U.N. Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andresen said she understands much of the frustration in the letter calling for massive reform of the negotiation process, but said their push to slash emissions fits nicely with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ constant prodding.

One key benefit of the U.N. climate talks process is it is the only place where victim small island nations have an equal seat at the table, Andersen told The Associated Press. But the process has its limits because “the rules of the game are set by member states,” she said.

An analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition said Friday that the official attendance list of the talks featured at least 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists.

Gore criticized the hosting of climate talks by Azerbaijan, an oil nation and site of the world’s first oil wells, and by the United Arab Emirates last year.

“It’s unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree,” Gore said.

At a press conference with small island nations, chair Cedric Schuster said the negotiating bloc feels the need to remind everyone else why the talks matter.

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Activist Luisa Neubauer, of Germany, participates in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A person walks through the Turkey Pavilion during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Eric Njuguna, of Kenya, participates in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Eric Njuguna, of Kenya, participates in a demonstration against fossil fuels called weed out the snakes at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Former Vice President Al Gore speaks during a session on Climate Trace, a database that monitors emissions, at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Former Vice President Al Gore speaks during a session on Climate Trace, a database that monitors emissions, at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Firefighters in Kentucky's largest city rescued a construction worker on a demolition team who fell into a void Thursday and became trapped in rubble, requiring a tedious, hourslong operation to dig him out.

The rescue was shown live on local Louisville television stations hours after the worker fell into a hole and debris fell on top of him around noon. Paramedics were on hand to place the worker onto a stretcher, cover him with a blanket and transport him to an ambulance.

One rescue worker patted the worker on the back as he was being hoisted out.

Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said the worker was conscious and alert when he was rescued after being “completely buried” 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.7 meters) below ground. He said the worker hadn't been able to move but was able to communicate in Spanish with multilingual members of the team.

“He was in a lot of pain,” O'Neill said. "This is a pretty severe accident.”

The worker was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, where his injuries were being assessed.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called it an “incredibly difficult trench rescue,” and said he had met with the victim’s mother to update her on his condition. The family was waiting to see the man at the hospital Thursday night.

A hospital spokesperson did not respond immediately to an email query about the worker's condition.

The man had been part of a demolition team working at the site and fell into what the fire chief described as a “void space.” Five other workers were with him at the site of a former corrections building that is being demolished to make way for a medical campus.

The rescue team — specialized in trench rescue and confined space rescue — arrived within minutes, O’Neill said.

“He got very fortunate that he had a little bit of a void space around him," O'Neill said. "So he was able to breathe.”

The fire chief said the worker was buried and pinned in place by gravel, dirt and large chunks of concrete, which required the rescue team to dig him out by hand, clearing the area around the man’s arms and chest so he could receive medical aid. He said rescue workers also used a vacuum truck with a large pipe to suck up smaller debris, and they used propane tanks to push hot air into the hole to keep the worker warm.

“We are moving tons and tons of debris by hand, by buckets,” O’Neill said, describing the process. “Imagine a person at the bottom of a funnel. You have to shore up everything else that’s going to keep cascading down to create a safe space and then continue to dig this person out.”

Rescuers continued to work through Thursday evening after night fell. Officials had a crane and ladders going into the hole, which was several feet wide. The worker was freed around 8:30 p.m.

The fire chief called it a “very long, very tedious, very slow-going process to do it safely, to make sure that you do not cause additional injury to the individual.”

Once the firefighters got the worker out, it was a “tempered celebration,” O'Neill said.

“This is what our firefighters do," he said. “This is why we took this job. We want to help people. And it’s not like the movies.”

Earlier this week just a few miles away, a Louisville manufacturing plant exploded, killing two workers and damaging dozens of nearby homes. The cause of the explosion is not yet known.

Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed reporting. Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky.

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department work to rescue a worker trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department work to rescue a worker trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department work to rescue a worker trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department work to rescue a worker trapped under rubble at a construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department work to rescue a worker trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Construction workers, along with members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department, use a large vacuum to remove debris as they attempt to rescue a worker trapped underground at a construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Construction workers and members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department use a large vacuum to remove debris as they attempt to rescue a worker trapped underground at a construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department carry an injured worker to safety after being trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department carry an injured worker to safety after being trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department carry an injured worker to safety after being trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Members of the Louisville Metro Fire Department carry an injured worker to safety after being trapped under rubble at construction site in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)