Climate change — fueling wildfires, drought and dust — is not only worsening air quality, but also making pollution increasingly challenging to combat, experts said, setting up a new reality for public health and canceling out years of gains made through the Clean Air Act.

“Not only the number of people and places affected are worsening, but the severity of the pollution itself is also worsening,” said Katherine Pruitt, report author and senior director of nationwide clean air policy for the American Lung Association.

Getting rid of the particulates created during combustion is a major co-benefit of decarbonization, and will pay in terms of longer healthier lives.