The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) says it is at an advanced stage of setting up a national air quality data hub in partnership with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Speaking in a yet-to-air documentary by Christian Yalley, scheduled for Sunday, October 4, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. on TV3, the Director of Sustainability and Circular Economy at the EPA disclosed that the new hub will merge existing air quality monitoring systems into one platform for easy access to data on air pollution in monitored areas.
“At the EPA, we are collaborating with KNUST to deploy a data hub where these moni toring systems will be put on one platform where people can visualise and see the air quality in a particular area,” Larry Kotoe, the EPA Director of Sustainability and Circular Economy, hinted.
The documentary, titled ‘Toxic Smoke, Fragile Lives,’ highlights prolonged inhalation of high levels of pollutants at Agbogbloshie, Old Fadama and adjoining areas. The pollution is driven by factors such as open burning of e-waste, carbon emissions from vehicles, and methane emissions from general waste.
In response to the worsening air pollution problem across cities in Ghana, the Ghana Urban Air Quality Project was established in May 2019, which anchors the BREATHE ACCRA project implemented in November 2022.
The project is funded by the Clean Air Fund and has deployed low-cost air quality monitoring sensors across 13 districts in Greater Accra. Agbogbloshie has one.
“Among all the districts and the areas we’ve been monitoring so far, we’ve realised that Agbogbloshie has been the most notorious – the numbers have not changed over the last few years; 2024, 2025, the trend has been the same. We’ve had almost every single day above the WHO 15 micrograms per cubic metre; we’ve had the annual average also above the WHO average and even the Ghana EPA standard.”
“The situation hasn’t changed in Agbogbloshie; we’re still seeing high pollution levels within the area. There needs to be active policies that will address this crisis we are seeing in the area,” Patrick Attey-Yeboah, Data Manager for the BREATHE ACCRA project, disclosed – something our own analysis of the data trend has proven.
The Environmental Protection Authority is the leading body responsible for managing air quality and controlling air pollution. It tracks ambient pollution levels, especially particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5).
Despite the significant efforts, Larry Kotoe admitted in the interview that “sometimes we [EPA] have a challenge with our own sensors, so it’s not all areas that we can monitor.”
“For us, we try as much as possible to stay within the standard but also try to reduce the sources that are contributing to exceeding the limits of the standards,” he added.
It is expected that this new air quality data hub, which is supported by the Clean Air Fund, will address existing gaps and help provide real-time data to inform policy and action.
Data hub testing
Earlier in September 2026, researchers from KNUST engaged officials of the EPA to test the data hub – a step towards merging all fragmented air quality information onto a single platform.
The proposed hub seeks to address challenges in Ghana’s air quality monitoring. Currently, air quality information is generated and kept by different institutions under different projects, with varied formats and accessibility.
The hub will provide a centralised and collaborative infrastructure for hosting air quality data from different networks and sensors across the country.
3News understands that KNUST will serve as the backend and technical lead before the EPA takes ownership of the platform once an agreed sustainability plan is established.
By Christian Yalley
