Dry season, El Nino fuel concerns over Jakarta's worsening air quality

Jakarta faces a grim outlook as the dry season looms, with experts predicting that the 2026 El Nino will worsen the city's already poor air quality. Data from Swiss firm IQAir revealed that June 2026 saw some of the worst average air quality days this year. The concentration of PM2.5 pollutants climbed from the "moderate" to "unhealthy" category, reaching levels around 11 times higher than the World Health Organization's safety limit on June 18.

El Nino typically brings drier conditions to Jakarta, reducing the atmosphere's capacity to disperse pollutants. During the 2023-2024 El Nino, PM2.5 concentrations in Indonesia reached 100 µg/m3, a rise linked by researchers to monsoon dynamics affecting wind patterns. Normally, monsoons help clear pollutants, but El Nino disrupts this process, causing them to accumulate.

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I find myself getting tired and short of breath more easily when walking along busy roads.

Residents are already feeling the effects. Nabilla, 28, finds it increasingly difficult to endure the pollution while using public transport and walking. "I find myself getting tired and short of breath more easily when walking along busy roads," she said. Akbar, 32, a sports coach, wears a mask daily but still suffers from persistent nasal congestion, which he attributes to the poor air quality. He urges the government to look beyond restricting private vehicles and address emissions from power plants and accelerate cleaner energy use.

Experts like Wisya Aulia Prayudi from the Centre for Indonesia Strategic Development Initiatives warn of escalating health risks. Previous studies have identified coal-fired power plants and vehicle emissions as major contributors to Jakarta's air pollution. The combination of El Nino's dry conditions and persistent pollution sources poses a significant threat to the health of millions of Jakartans.

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I hope the government doesn’t focus solely on restricting private vehicles, because that alone won’t sufficiently solve the problem. Authorities also need to reduce emissions from power plants and accelerate the use of cleaner energy sources.