Every $1 invested in tackling climate change, pollution together can generate economic benefits of $15: UN report
Nairobi, Sep 7 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Every $1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together can generate around $15 in economic benefits, a report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) said on Monday. This is higher than tackling climate change and clean air separately, and it includes both market and non-market economic gains.
Released on the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, the report titled ‘Hidden assets: The economic and health case for climate and clean air action’ is the first comprehensive global economic assessment of integrated climate and clean-air action.
“For too long, we have treated climate action as a cost to be managed and air pollution as the unfortunate outcome of development. This report shows the opposite: Clean air is a key driver of development, health, food and energy security, and climate stability — an asset we must invest in,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
“Proven solutions already exist. What we lack is the decisive leadership from governments, financial institutions, and businesses to deliver them with the speed and coordination this crisis demands,” she said.
In comparison, 2.18 per cent of global GDP was spent on explicit fossil fuel subsidies in 2022 and 9.3 per cent of global GDP was spent on healthcare in 2023. Every year of delayed action would forgo more than $1.5 trillion annually — 0.5 per cent of GDP — in combined market and non-market benefits.
Even excluding non-market welfare benefits, the measures return around $4 for every $1 invested.
“A benefit-cost ratio of 15 to 1 would attract capital instantly in almost any other sector. 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.
“Every year of delay costs the world more than $1.5 trillion in benefits we will not get back. Finance ministries and investors who keep climate and air quality in separate budget lines are leaving trillions on the table,” said Elliott Harris, independent, co-chair of the Assessment.
The $15 return includes measurable market benefits — such as lower healthcare expenditure, greater labour productivity, and avoided physical damage — and the monetary value of fewer premature deaths and healthier lives.
In 2025, exposure to human-caused outdoor air pollution (PM2.5 and ozone) was linked to an estimated 6.4 million premature deaths worldwide.
Household air pollution was linked to a further 2 million premature deaths, including around 300,000 children.
Unlike previous assessments, the report factors in the economic effects of air pollution-related illness, including pressure on health services, losses to productivity and well-being.
In 2025, outdoor air pollution contributed to 5.5 million new cases of childhood asthma, 2 million new cases of dementia and millions of cases of heart attack, pulmonary disease, diabetes, stroke and lung cancer.
The package of measures examined in the report spans six sectors — energy and fossil fuel systems, industry, transport, agriculture and food systems, residential cooking and heating, and waste management — and combines both long-term decarbonisation measures and measures that target super pollutants such as methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
Measures include renewable power and energy efficiency, increasing clean cooking and heating solutions, tighter vehicle emission and efficiency standards, inspection and maintenance, electric vehicles and low-sulfur shipping fuels, recovery of associated gas to end routine venting and flaring and reduce oil and gas leaks, livestock and manure management, more efficient fertiliser use, improved rice cultivation and alternatives to crop residue burning, better solid waste and wastewater management, and phasing down HFCs.
By 2050, full implementation of the 25 measures could cumulatively prevent 144 million air pollution related premature deaths, including 96 million from ambient air pollution alone, and hundreds of millions of cases of chronic disease.
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