Air pollution reducing life expectancy?

If science and technology have increased life expectancy, air pollution will cut it short with enormous health burden. In its recent report ‘Toxic air: The price of fossil fuels’, Greenpeace points out that air pollution caused due to  —  burning fossil fuels (primarily coal, oil and gas), power generation, transport, (including petrol and diesel vehicles), residential energy use, agriculture and industry — are leading to adverse health effects and premature deaths. 

According to the report,  the properties and effects of air pollution — different pollutants, pollution sources and environmental conditions — combined with differences in population and lifestyle, have different health impacts, depending on the geographical location. Researchers calculated premature mortality resulting from air pollution. Globally, of premature deaths attributed to air pollution, almost 1/3 were attributable to exposure (while outdoors) to air pollution from residential and commercial energy. In India and China (mainland),  this was the main source of air pollution-related premature deaths.

Air pollution is reducing global life expectancy by 3 years, killing 8.8million people a year. More people are dying from breathing toxic air than malaria, HIV, war and smoking. — a study.

The Greenpeace report highlighted that globally land traffic was attributable for 5% of air pollution-related premature deaths and power generation for 14% while countries where air pollution from land traffic emissions were particularly high included the US, Germany, Russia, Turkey and Japan. The contribution of power generation to premature mortality was particularly high in the US, Russia, Turkey, China Mainland and Japan.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has created guidelines that describe the level of air pollution above which there is strong evidence of negative health impacts. However in 2019, around 91% of the global population lived in places where levels of air pollution exceeded these guidelines.

moreover, air pollution and the climate crisis are linked. Recent natural calamites like Amazon and Australia wildfires, climate change such as sandstorms and heat waves, can worsen air pollution. The phase-out of fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy is beneficial both for reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change.

- Singh Rakesh Ranjan

(Sources)