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The number of countries rolling out programs to combat air
pollution increased over the past five years, but more is still
required as pollution levels are largely unchanged, a study by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) found.
The study, released to coincide with UNEP's second International
Day of Clean Air, showed 95 countries now have programs promoting
clean cooking and heating, an increase of 13 nations compared with
a preceding study in 2016, preventing pollution including soot.
And though burning of solid waste remains a widespread
phenomenon, 26 more countries now strictly regulate it, including
landfill gas capture, improved collection, the separation of waste,
and sound disposal methods, the study found. Burning waste releases
black carbon and methane mostly.
The increase in countries promoting cleaner fuel cooking and
heating has led to lower rates of disease caused by household air
pollution, mostly in South and East Asia and the Pacific, UNEP said
in a statement released alongside the report.
Air pollution's human capital impact on GDP has been calculated
at 1.36% in India, 1.19% in Rwanda, 1.16% in Ethiopia, and 0.5% in
Ghana, UNEP Senior Economic Advisor Pushpam Kumar said during a
press conference on the report. Those figures do not include public
health expenditures, Kumar added.
Human capital involves the knowledge, skills, and health that
people accumulate throughout their lives, according to the World
Bank.
Investing in people through nutrition, health care, quality
education, jobs, and skills helps develop human capital, and is key
to ending extreme poverty and creating more inclusive societies, it
added.
Action on air pollution therefore provides a positive return on
investment and can boost the economy, said Kumar.
India—with the world's second largest population, many of
them poor—is working on the impact outdoor and indoor air
pollution can have, a senior government official said earlier this
year at an IHS Markit conference.
LPG is set to be the primary solution to India's indoor air
pollution problem in the short term, and expanding the natural gas
pipeline network is a key longer-term solution, Dharmendra Pradhan,
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel, said during IHS Markit's Fourth
Annual India Energy Forum by CERAWeek in January.
"We have about 280 million LPG consumers, and 80 million of them
are 'the poorest of the poor,'" a group that the government has
targeted for free LPG distribution, Pradhan told the forum. During
the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns in spring 2020, he said the
ministry was distributing 5 million cylinders of LPG per day.
Ghana's West African neighbor Nigeria—the world's seventh
most populous nation and Africa's top-ranked country—is doing
the same.
To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, parties should enable
the fuel poor to improve their lives by obtaining access to
electricity that isn't created by burning petroleum products and
food without inhaling emissions from burning firewood indoors,
Nigerian Vice President Oluyemi Osinbajo told the Columbia Global Energy
Summit 18 May. The policy of leaving no-one behind is a Paris
Agreement goal, he added.
Air pollution relatively unchanged
But, overall, air pollution is relatively unchanged since the
prior report UNEP produced, and in some places has worsened, report
co-author Gary Kleiman said during the webcast briefing. "The
bottom line is that while progress is being made, it needs more
support," the Orbis Air founder said.
There is no straightforward answer on how successful humankind
has been in tackling air pollution, said Kleiman. "You can't manage
what you can't measure," he said. There has been an increase in the
activity on the part of governments, Kleinman said, but the data
for many countries is missing.
Among the 124 countries with air quality standards, only 57
continuously monitor air quality, while 104 countries have no
monitoring infrastructure in place, the UNEP study Kleinman
co-authored found.
Since the last assessment, 17 more countries have adopted legal
instruments containing ambient air quality standards, the study
found. Much of this progress was in Africa and Latin America, but
some Eastern European countries have also added a standard for at
least one pollutant, it added.
More than 95% of countries with ambient air quality standards
are regulating particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and
sulfur dioxide, while 90% are regulating particulate matter, the
study showed.
However, only 9% of these adhere to the limits established by
World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, according to the
report.
The WHO launched its revised air quality
guidelines on 22 September.
The next UNEP study on air pollution is expected to be released
in 2024.
More investment needed
UNEP called on countries to incorporate investments in air
pollution clean-up into their post-COVID-19 recovery plans in the
report.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres added his backing to the
call. "Like many societal ills, air pollution reflects global
inequalities," he said. "Poverty forces people to live close to
sources of pollution, like factories and highways, and burn solid
fuels or kerosene for cooking, heating, and lighting."
"The pollution that is damaging our health is also driving the
climate crisis. I call on all countries to do more to improve air
quality, invest in renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, phase
out coal, and transition to zero-emission vehicles," he added.
These latest funding pleas come after a study released 10 March showed
governments are missing their chance to reduce GHG emissions at the
same time as fighting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and
righting inequity with unprecedented stimulus funding.
Overall rescue and recovery spending to combat the health crisis
totaled $14.6 trillion, but only 18.1% or $341 billion was green
recovery spending that could help reduce GHG emissions, according
to the report's lead author, Brian O'Callaghan, lead researcher at
the Economic Recovery Project.
Studies show that well-designed green spending can counter the
environmental crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity
loss, while also delivering significant social benefits, according
to the report.
Activist groups call for COP26
postponement
Developing nations are going to be dealt another blow if the
developed world, and the UK government in particular, fail to see
how the post-pandemic world is set to deprive poorer nations of a
fair say in November's key UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change negotiations, activists say.
As a result, the long-awaited talks should be postponed until
the UK government, COP26's host, works out a way to ensure a "safe,
equitable and inclusive summit," the Climate Action Network (CAN),
which represents over 1,500 civil society groups from 130
countries, said 7 September.
"The COP presidency has failed to guarantee the safe and
equitable participation of COP26 delegates, especially people
coming from countries that are disproportionately affected by
COVID-19 and the climate crisis," Greenpeace International Senior
Political Lead Juan Pablo Osornio said in a statement supporting
the CAN stance.
"COP26 needs to be fair and accessible to deliver global climate
justice. Expecting already disadvantaged people to attend without
access to vaccines, healthcare, and financial support to overcome
the risks of participation, is not only unfair but prohibitive,"
Osornio added.
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