Joint climate, air pollution action could deliver $15 return on every $1 invested: report

With global warming exceeding 1.5 C increasingly assessed as unavoidable, integrating action on climate change and air pollution could deliver greater economic, health, and environmental benefits than tackling the two issues separately, according to a report published on Monday by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

The report found that every $1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together could generate around $15 in economic benefits — a higher return than addressing the two issues separately. The estimate includes both market and non-market economic gains.

The report proposes a package of 25 proven solutions that address all greenhouse gases, from carbon dioxide to super pollutants such as methane and black carbon. The solutions range from moving to renewable energy for power generation and transport to reducing methane emissions from fossil fuels, agriculture, and waste, as well as improving energy efficiency in industry, homes, and vehicles.

Simon Dietz, professor of environmental policy in the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a co-chair of the assessment, said full implementation of the 25 solutions could avoid 60 to 70 percent of the annual health burden from air pollution and sustain those gains throughout the century.

"On the climate side, full implementation of the solutions avoids approximately 0.34 C of warming by 2050 and around 1.4 C by 2100," he said.

Dietz identified siloed decision-making, weak enforcement capacity, and poor coordination between ministries as institutional barriers that could delay reductions in air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.

"A benefit-cost ratio of 15 to 1 would attract capital instantly in almost any other sector," Elliott Harris, independent co-chair of the assessment said. "The only reason it hasn't on integrated climate and clean air action yet is that the returns are split across health systems, productivity, and avoided climate damage rather than landing on a single balance sheet."

Harris added that every year of delay costs the world more than $1.5 trillion in benefits, saying finance ministries and investors that keep climate and air quality in separate budget lines are leaving trillions of dollars on the table.

Wang Shuxiao, a professor from Tsinghua University and a co-chair of the assessment, said new cases attributed to air pollution involving stroke, heart attack and dementia are projected to increase by 65 percent, 78 percent, and 83 percent, respectively, between 2030 and 2050.

"Air pollution is not just an environmental issue, it's also a health, economic, and development issue," she said. "The integrated climate and clean air action is one of the most compelling economic opportunities of this century."

Martina Otto, head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat, said air quality and climate considerations should be embedded in national plans, fiscal frameworks, and investment decisions so that the full benefits are accounted for when projects compete for funding.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn