Clearing the Skies

At a Glance

• Air pollution from coal combustion kills millions every year—more than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined.
• Coal-to-gas switching eliminates virtually all SO2, most NOx, nearly all mercury, and roughly two-thirds of particulate matter from power generation, immediately.
• Cities with the world’s worst air quality are overwhelmingly coal-powered. USLNG offers them a practical, affordable path to cleaner air now.

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The Air We Breathe

The brown haze hanging over Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, and Karachi is not an abstraction. It is sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and mercury, produced in enormous quantities by coal-fired power plants and deposited directly into the lungs of the people who live downwind. The Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that outdoor air pollution (driven overwhelmingly by coal combustion) causes more than 4 million premature deaths annually. Indoor air pollution from coal, wood, and charcoal cooking fires kills another 3 million. A 2021 study published in Environmental Research estimated 8.7 million premature deaths annually from fossil fuel air pollution alone—the majority attributable to coal.

The solution is available, affordable, and proven. Switching from coal to natural gas in power generation eliminates virtually all of the most dangerous conventional air pollutants, immediately and at scale. USLNG makes that switch possible for any nation willing to make it.

What Coal Does to the Air

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) causes respiratory illness and acid rain, damaging crops, forests, and freshwater ecosystems. Natural gas combustion produces only trace amounts of SO2, essentially eliminating it from the power sector. Between 1995 and 2023, U.S. power plant SO2 emissions fell 96%—driven almost entirely by the shift from coal to natural gas.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) create ground-level ozone and smog, causing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Natural gas-fired power plants emit an order of magnitude less NOx than coal plants. U.S. power plant NOx emissions fell 90% between 1990 and 2023 as gas displaced coal.

Mercury (Hg) is a potent neurotoxin that accumulates in the food chain, causing developmental damage in children and neurological harm in adults. EPA estimates coal-fired plants account for roughly half of all mercury emissions in the United States. Natural gas plants emit negligible mercury. None.

Particulate matter (PM) penetrates deep into lungs and bloodstream, causing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Natural gas plants emit roughly two-thirds less particulate matter than coal plants.

Source: EIA Electric Power Annual, Table 9.1; EPA eGRID.

The Benefits Are Immediate

Unlike climate benefits, which accumulate over decades, air quality benefits of coal-to-gas switching are immediate and visible. Within months of a coal plant shutting down and a gas plant coming online, SO2 levels drop, NOx falls, particulate counts decline, and hospital admissions for respiratory illness decrease.

The science is unambiguous. A peer-reviewed study published in Nature Sustainability found that between 2005 and 2016, the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants in the continental United States saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of crops in their vicinities—direct, quantifiable results of the coal-to-gas switch. This is not industry data. It was published in one of the world’s leading scientific journals.

The Clean Air Task Force—an environmental advocacy organization that has spent decades fighting coal pollution and does not support expanded fossil fuel development—has documented the same pattern through its Toll from Coal series, the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of coal’s health impacts in the United States. Their data, compiled using EPA’s own health benefits methodology, shows that coal plant deaths in the U.S. fell from 30,000 per year in 2000 to fewer than 3,000 by 2019. The primary driver: the coal-to-gas switch.

China has demonstrated coal-to-gas switching at large scale: in regions where switching has been aggressively pursued, air quality improvements have been dramatic and rapid. The same result is achievable anywhere coal dominates the power mix—which is to say in most of Asia, much of Africa, and significant parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe.

USLNG makes this transition possible. It is abundant, competitively priced, reliably supplied, and produced under environmental standards exceeding those of any other major LNG exporter.

A Note on Methane

Critics correctly note that methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a potent GHG when leaked or vented. This is a legitimate concern the USLNG industry is actively addressing through new technology, tighter regulation, and third-party certification. The nine independent LCAs cited on our Energy and Climate page confirm that even accounting for upstream methane, USLNG delivers significant GHG reductions over coal. On conventional air pollutants, the comparison is not even close.

To learn how USLNG can help your nation clear its skies, connect with LNG Allies President Fred Hutchison on LinkedIn.

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Selected References

Global Burden of Disease Study. (2024). Air Pollution. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Vohra, K., et al. (2021). Global Mortality from Outdoor Fine Particle Pollution Generated by Fossil Fuel Combustion. Environmental Research, 195. [Estimates 8.7 million premature deaths annually from fossil fuel air pollution.]

Gillan, P. (2019). The Downstream Air Pollution Impacts of the Transition from Coal to Natural Gas in the United States. Nature Sustainability. [Between 2005–2016, coal plant shutdowns saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of crops.]

Clean Air Task Force. (2021). Toll From Coal: Coal Plant Pollution and Health Impacts. CATF. [Interactive map and mortality data using EPA’s own health benefits methodology. CATF is an environmental advocacy organization that opposes fossil fuel expansion.]

Clean Air Task Force. (2024). Community Health Impacts of Air Pollution in the U.S. CATF.

NRDC. (2026, March). Coal Pollution Spiked After Trump Administration’s “Free Pass to Pollute.” NRDC. [SO2 from coal plants increased 18% in 2025; six exempted plants contributed to 667 premature deaths. Note: LNG Allies does not endorse NRDC’s policy positions but cites their emissions data.]

NRDC. (2023, Oct. 31). Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know. NRDC.

U.S. EPA. (2025). Latest Emission Comparisons and Pollution Controls. EPA. [Quarterly SO2, NOx, CO2, and mercury data from power plants; coal vs. natural gas emission rates.]

U.S. EPA. (2024). Power Plant Emission Trends. EPA. [96% reduction in SO2, 90% reduction in NOx from power plants since 1990–95.]

U.S. EIA. (2024). Electric Power Annual, Table 9.1: Emissions from Energy Consumption at Conventional Power Plants. EIA. [Primary source for SO2, NOx, CO2, and mercury emission rates by fuel type; basis for the Powerplant Air Emissions comparison chart on this page.]

U.S. EPA. (2024). Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Pollution. EPA.

U.S. EPA. (2024). Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Pollution. EPA.

U.S. EPA. (2024). Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). EPA.