‘See through greenwash’ at COP30

Amazon air pollution worse than some global megacities, Greenpeace report finds

Home » ‘See through greenwash’ at COP30

Published: November 5, 2025
This Article was written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod
agriculture, air pollution, Amazon, COP30, deforestation, fires, greenwash, health, indigenous, inequality, trees

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People living in the heart of the Amazon rainforest are breathing air contaminated with higher levels of toxic particles than residents of global cities such as São Paulo, Beijing or London, driven largely by fires deliberately set to clear forest for cattle and to renew pasturelands.

This is the headline finding of new data published by Greenpeace International.

‘Choking on smoke’

The peer-reviewed study tracks fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a pollutant linked to a range of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and early deaths, across multiple towns in Brazil’s Amazon region.

During the 2024 and 2025 fire seasons, PM2.5 levels recorded in Porto Velho (Rondônia) and Lábrea (Amazonas) included daily averages that exceeded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 24-hour public health guideline by more than 20 times.

Despite fewer fires in 2025 compared with 2024, Greenpeace International still frequently recorded PM2.5 levels in several locations exceeding WHO guidelines more than six-fold.

These figures place the Amazon among the most polluted regions on the planet, despite its forested geography.

‘The Amazon plays a vital role in preserving life on our planet, but it’s choking on smoke from fires set deliberately by the livestock industry. These incidents are not natural: every blaze started to clear land for cattle endangers everyone living in the Amazon, from city dwellers to Indigenous and local communities living in the forest.

‘These fires expose the real cost of industrial agriculture. It’s not just deforestation, it’s children in hospital beds, elders gasping for air, and forests turned into smoke to feed the global meat trade. At COP30, agribusiness lobbyists will claim their industry is part of the solution. Governments must see through the greenwash and instead take action to prevent the destruction of forests and people’s health and hold the industry behind it accountable.’

LIS CUNHA
Campaigner at Greenpeace International

Agricultural fires

The report shows that fire outbreaks in the Amazon are overwhelmingly concentrated in agricultural zones.

For example, satellite data from the Amazon biome between 2019 and 2024 reveals more than 30 million hectares burned in a 360km radius around the facilities of JBS, the world’s largest meat company in the Amazon biome – an area the size of Italy.

This demonstrates the high risk of exposure to the deliberate use of fire by suppliers in their direct and indirect supply chains faced by meat companies like JBS, who lack explicit policies prohibiting the use of fire by suppliers.

Fires & hospitalisation

The report also reveals the dire public health implications of fire pollution. Local hospitals in Porto Velho have reported sharp rises in respiratory admissions during the burning season, especially among children and older people.

Modelling cited in the report estimates that smoke from agricultural fires has contributed to tens of thousands of hospitalisations and premature deaths in Brazil’s Amazon region over the last decade.

Meeting WHO air-quality standards could extend life expectancy by up to 2.9 years in heavily affected states such as Rondônia and Amazonas.

An Action Plan for forests

Greenpeace is urging governments meeting at COP30 in Belém to adopt an Action Plan for forests to implement the UNFCCC’s 2030 target to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation.

Greenpeace says governments and financial institutions must cut ties with meat and feed producers driving the destruction and invest instead in forest-friendly, equitable food systems, including by providing finance directly accessible to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.