The news is filled with stories of smog thick enough to cover whole cities, shut down schools and offices, and ruin major sporting events, drawing our attention to the disastrous impact of air pollution on people and planet – this global plague is killing more than 8 million people a year and poisoning our economies.
Right now, 99 percent of us are breathing poor quality air and pollution is fuelling the increasingly dramatic impacts of climate change. The huge costs of air pollution to public health, economies and the environment are clear, with global health damages totalling $8.1 trillion annually – over six percent of global GDP. But action to address air pollution remains grossly insufficient and underfunded.
Only one per cent of international development funding currently goes towards clean air projects, despite the potential for every dollar invested in clean air initiatives returning up to $30 in economic benefits.
A 2023 UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study on the cost of inaction related to health impacts of air pollution exposure in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand was estimated at between 1.6 percent and 2.1 percent of each country’s GDP by 2030.
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is considered the most dangerous pollutant for human health because these tiny particles can permeate vital organs. In low- and middle-income countries, people can face exposure to levels of PM2.5 that are up to four times higher than the WHO’s air quality guidelines’ values. Reducing PM2.5 levels is vital to protect people and the planet, but is also an economic no-brainer, with research showing that a 20 percent drop could boost employment by 16 percent and labour productivity by a third.
A growing number of workable, available, and viable solutions to air pollution prove that there is no need for us to choke on our own smoke and allow air pollution to cripple our economies.
The private sector can and must play a key role in implementing these solutions, as a significant air pollution contributor, but also as the bearer of many costs associated with the problem such as lower employee productivity, higher financial compensation, healthcare and absenteeism, and the brain drain of skilled workers seeking fresher air.
For example, in countries like India, air pollution costs industry an estimated $95 billion per year, or three percent of the country’s GDP. After Indian businesses joined a clean air forum and funded and promoted clean air solutions, there were huge changes such as an 80 percent drop in crop burning in two states.
Companies possess the expertise, innovation and resources to assess and reduce their air pollution footprint and are increasingly taking action to set and achieve clean air targets and attract investment to finance these efforts. Initiatives such as the World Economic Forum-backed Alliance for Clean Air, an air quality-focused private sector alliance, prompted several members to start measuring and reporting their air pollution footprints.
In 2022, the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the Stockholm Environment Institute worked with IKEA Group to develop a first-of-its-kind guide for businesses to measure air pollutant emissions across value chains.
These examples demonstrate that companies are increasingly taking action to set and achieve clean air targets and attract investment to finance these efforts.
Boosting action on air quality requires cooperation across all sectors, between private and public entities, and from the global to the local and vice versa. The UNEP, CCAC and partners are launching a global network to raise awareness of the multiple impacts of air pollution, strengthen capacity-building, advance cost-effective air quality measures and support regional air quality arrangements in response to a landmark resolution adopted this year at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). They are also supporting the development of an Africa Clean Air Programme and will launch a global air quality management platform on September 7 to mark International Day of Clean Air, which this year highlights the urgent need to invest in air pollution solutions.
No effort to clean up our air will succeed without substantial investment. Achieving better air for everyone requires action and funding at all levels and working with the most polluting sectors. Real blue sky thinking means using the most effective strategies and resources, such as implementing integrated climate and clean air initiatives, mobilising public and private financing and engaging industry as a crucial and positive changemaker.
By Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of Economy, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
