Air pollution costs India $150 billion a year

Air pollution costs India $150 billion a year

credit: third party image reference

Recently research has been published by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Work and the Greenpeace Office in Southeast Asia, according to which the global cost of fossil-fueled air pollution is $8 billion a day, or about 3.3 percent of global economic production.

China, the United States, and India are holding the highest air pollution costs from fossil fuel.

The cost of fossil fuel emissions in India is $150 billion per annum, the report further estimates. The whopping figure is 5.4 percent of India's GDP and the amount is higher than what New Delhi spends on education, to put that more perspective; India spends on health care.

credit: third party image reference

It is even more than multi-country GDP like Barbados, Maldives, Seychelles, etc. Nearly all factories in India operate on fossil fuels. Coal, which is India's largest source of energy supply, is being burned to fuel growth in India and this, in turn, is taking a toll on the economy of the country.

The nation is the world's third-largest oil producer while it is the world's fourth-largest oil refiner.

Studies of earlier times found that living in New Delhi is like smoking 10 cigarettes a day. 

Fossil fuel burning doesn't just harm the environment. It also takes a toll on the balance of health, economy and work-life in India.

credit: third party image reference

The study further said exposure to fossil fuel emissions also contributes to about 49 crore days of illness-related absence from work.

The cause of economic costs is about 12.85 lakh more children living in India with nitrogen dioxide-related asthma (NO2), a by-product of the combustion of fossil fuel.

Air pollution also kills one million Indians annually, meanwhile, there are 980,000 preterm births each year. These are all linked to air pollution from fossil fuel.

"Air pollution from fossil fuels is a danger to our health and our economies. It takes millions of lives and costs us trillions of dollars," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia's air cleanliness research specialist. "But this is an issue that we know how to solve: converting to renewable energy, phasing out diesel and gasoline cars and building public transport."