The market effects of outdoor air pollution, which include effects on labor productivity, health expenses, and agricultural crop yields, are expected to result in worldwide economic costs of 1% of global GDP by 2060.
Is pollution bad for the economy?
Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air have released a new analysis on the human and economic impacts of air pollution caused by fossil fuels. Burning gas, coal, and oil causes three times the number of deaths as road traffic accidents worldwide, and air pollution is expected to cost $2.9 trillion, or 3.3 percent of global GDP. According to the analysis, PM2 was associated to 4.5 million deaths in 2018. 5 pollution is also to blame for 1.8 billion days missed at work, 4 million new cases of kid asthma, and 2 million premature births.
What is the economic impact of pollution?
Air pollution has a negative influence on the economy in the United States, costing the country around 5% of its annual gross domestic product (GDP) in damages ($790 billion in 2014). The biggest expenditures are associated with premature deaths caused by fine particulate matter exposure (PM2.5).
According to new research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Air Quality, Climate, and Energy Solutions (CACES), air pollution damages in the United States are dramatically declining, as levels of outdoor air pollutants have fallen in recent years. The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 9, found that external effects from air pollution have decreased by 20% in just six years, from 2008 to 2014.
“It’s a fairly significant decline,” said Nick Muller, a Carnegie Mellon professor of engineering, public policy, and economics.
While some PM2.5 in the atmosphere is caused by natural processes such as forest fires or windblown dust, the vast majority of PM2.5-related effects are caused by human activities, with the majority of them attributable to various economic sectors such as industry and agriculture. When damages are combined with more standard economic production measurements like GDP or value-added, a more accurate picture of a sector’s complete economic impact emerges.
“We know the economy changed a lot between 2008 and 2014,” Muller said, citing a variety of economic trends such as the rise of cleaner energy sources like natural gas and renewables amid the decline of higher-polluting coal, the retirement of some heavier manufacturing industries, and even the Great Recession, which slowed economic production and thus emissions. “They’re all reflected in the damages caused by air pollution.”
From 2008 to 2014, damages attributable to the utilities industry decreased by more than half. Other significant economic sectors, such as manufacturing (20%), transportation (30%), and agriculture (20%), saw smaller reductions (4 percent). According to the report, agriculture ($230 billion in air pollution damages in 2014) has already surpassed utilities ($150 billion) as the economic sector with the largest level of damages.
The top four industries responsible for the biggest external damages (agricultural, utilities, manufacturing, and transportation) provide slightly under 20% of GDP but account for more than 75% of all air pollution-related damages.
PM2.5 can be immediately discharged into the atmosphere (as “primary” PM2.5) or generated through atmospheric chemical reactions that progressively convert emitted gases to PM2.5 (as “secondary” PM2.5). Various economic activities, such as agriculture, electricity generating, and water transportation, each emit their own distinct mixture of chemicals into the atmosphere, but they all contribute to PM2.5. Within each sector of the economy, the study tracks the level of damages caused by each main type of emissions.
What effect does the environment have on GDP?
In the Age of Climate Change, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) A higher GDP per capita generally reflects a higher rate of per capita CO2 emissions, as shown in the graph below. As rising emissions are not recognized as damaging to economic growth, this tendency is suggestive of defining environmental impacts as an externality.
What factors influence GDP?
Defined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Personal consumption, private investment, government spending, and exports are all factors that go into calculating a country’s GDP (minus imports).
What is the economic impact of plastic pollution?
The commercial case for managing and exposing plastic consumption in the consumer goods industry is made in Valuing Plastic, a UNEP-supported report prepared by the Plastic Disclosure Project (PDP) and Trucost. The whole natural capital cost of plastic consumption in the consumer goods sector is estimated to be US$75 billion per year, based on financial repercussions such as marine pollution and air pollution generated by incinerating plastic.
According to the analysis, greenhouse gas emissions from raw material extraction and processing account for more than 30% of the natural capital costs of plastic. However, it points out that the most major downstream cost is marine pollution, and that the figure of US$13 billion is likely an underestimate.
“While plastics have become increasingly important in modern life, the environmental consequences of how we use them cannot be overlooked,” said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. “These reports show that reducing, recycling, and redesigning products that use plastics can have a variety of green economy benefits, ranging from reducing economic damage to marine ecosystems and the tourism and fisheries industries, which are vital to many developing countries, to saving companies money and allowing them to innovate while reducing reputational risks.”
“Our economies are still heavily built on fossil fuels, with the associated environmental, economic, and health consequences concealed,” he continued. “Scientists recently discovered microscopic particles of plastic frozen in sea ice in the polar areas, for example. These polluted particles are carried across huge distances by ocean currents and eventually become a source of toxins in our food. The most important course of action is to keep plastic pollution out of the environment in the first place, which can be summarized as a single powerful goal: reduce, reuse, recycle.”
Littering, poorly managed landfills, tourist activities, and fisheries all contribute to a vast and unquantifiable volume of plastic garbage entering the ocean. Some of this debris sinks to the ocean floor, while others float and can travel long distances on ocean currents, fouling shorelines and forming vast mid-ocean gyres.
There have been numerous reliable reports of environmental damage caused by plastic garbage, including turtle mortality or illness, entanglement of animals like dolphins and whales, and damage to important habitats like coral reefs. Chemical contamination, invasive species carried by plastic fragments, and economic harm to the fishing and tourism industries in many nations are additional issues, with plastic fouling fishing equipment and damaging beaches being two examples.
Concerns about microplastics have escalated since the UNEP Year Book process last looked at plastic waste in the ocean in 2011. (particles up to 5 mm in diameter, either manufactured or created when plastic breaks down). Ingestion has been documented in seabirds, fish, mussels, worms, and zooplankton, among other marine organisms.
According to the Year Book, one developing issue is the growing usage of microplastics directly in consumer items, such as microbeads in toothpaste, gels, and cosmetic cleansers. Microplastics are rarely filtered out during sewage treatment and instead wind up in rivers, lakes, and the ocean.
Multiple places in the North Atlantic have been observed with microbial communities flourishing on microplastics. This “plastisphere” can help hazardous microorganisms, diseases, and algae species travel more easily. Microplastics have also been discovered as a concern to larger organisms, like the endangered northern right whale, which may be exposed to microplastics through filter-feeding.
Plastic consumption is anticipated to rise as a result of shifting demographics, production trends, and use patterns, and both analyses urge on businesses, institutions, and consumers to reduce waste.
According to Valuing Plastic, consumer goods companies presently save $4 billion per year through good plastic management, such as recycling, and that there is room for much more savings. However, plastic use disclosure is lacking: less than half of the 100 companies surveyed submitted any plastic-related data.
“The research reveals the need for businesses to think about their plastic footprint in the same way they think about carbon, water, and forests,” said Andrew Russell, PDP Director. “Through the PDP, firms can avoid risks, optimize opportunities, and become more profitable and sustainable by measuring, managing, and reporting plastic consumption and disposal.”
Initiatives like the PDP and the UNEP-led Global Partnership on Marine Litter have aided in raising awareness of the problem and have begun to solve it. However, there is still much more to be done. The studies make the following recommendations for further action:
- Companies should keep track of how much plastic they use and submit the results in annual reports.
- Companies should commit to decreasing plastic’s environmental impact by setting explicit goals and timetables, as well as innovating to improve resource efficiency and recycling.
- Because plastic particles can be ingested by marine organisms and potentially accumulate and deliver toxins through the food web, efforts to fill knowledge gaps and better understand the capacity of various plastics to absorb and transfer persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative chemicals should be stepped up.
“Natural capital valuation has the potential to assist firms in understanding their environmental implications, particularly ocean pollution,” said Trucost CEO Richard Mattison. “Companies may further integrate efficient environmental management into mainstream enterprises by putting a financial value on consequences such as plastic waste. It creates a financial case for proactive sustainability improvements by highlighting the benefits from reuse and recycling.”
Mr. Steiner stated, “Ten years ago, UNEP warned the globe about the emergence of dead zones in coastal waterways caused by excess nitrogen seeping into the sea.” “That was from the very first Year Book edition. Many additional new difficulties have been uncovered in the interim, with some reaching crisis levels and others showing signs of improvement.”
“The 2014 Year Book demonstrates how scientific endeavors and policy activities have resulted in new solutions and significant progress,” he added. “It reaffirms the importance of the environment in preserving and improving people’s and ecosystems’ health, from well-managed soils and nutrients that support food production to the crucial function of biodiversity in preventing the spread of infectious illnesses. Clean air in major cities saves society trillions of dollars by preventing millions of premature deaths and illnesses.”
The UNEP Year Book 2014 summarizes the current status of affairs in key sectors such as:
Nitrogen continues to be used inefficiently as a plant nutrient in many of the world’s agricultural systems, as the Year Book team discovered in 2003. Humans now produce roughly 190 million tonnes of useable nitrogen per year, which is higher than the 112 million tonnes produced by natural processes.
The single nitrogen atom can contribute to many harmful impacts in the air, on land, in freshwater and marine systems, and on human health as it flows through the ecosystem. The “nitrogen cascade” is the name given to this series of events that occurs over a long period of time.
- Due to extensive eutrophication, coastal dead zones and fish kills have occurred (a high concentration of nutrients, which leads to excessive plant growth and oxygen deprivation). In well-studied sections of the planet, there are now over 500 recognized coastal dead zones, whereas just roughly 150 such oxygen-depleted areas were identified in 2003. It is expected that 1000 coastal and marine areas will be identified as being affected by eutrophication once additional regions begin reporting.
- Nitrogen emissions, particularly nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, contribute to climate change. N2O, also known as the “lost greenhouse gas,” is almost 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 100-year period. Agriculture, deforestation, and fossil fuel use all contribute to an increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The Year Book concludes that better management approaches are required to increase nitrogen use efficiency. This is the most cost-effective method of decreasing nitrogen losses from agricultural sources to the environment.
According to the latest UNEP-commissioned report, Our Nutrient World, a 20% increase in global nutrient usage efficiency by 2020 would result in a 20 million-tonne reduction in yearly nitrogen use. In terms of improvements in human health, climate, and biodiversity, this might save between $50 and $400 billion per year.
Aquaculture production has expanded from 650 thousand tonnes in the 1950s to about 67 million tonnes now, accounting for nearly half of all fish consumed by humans. During the recent decade, marine aquaculture production increased by 35%, while production in fresh and brackish water increased by 70% and 83 percent, respectively.
While progress has been made toward more sustainable marine aquaculture, environmental issues remain. Nutrients, undigested feed, and veterinary medications can be released into the environment by fish farms. They can also make infections and parasites more likely, as well as dangerous algal blooms. Certain types of shrimp farming have devastated large amounts of coastal habitats, such as mangrove forests, in several nations.
Healthy marine habitats are critical for achieving development goals such as food security and job creation. To minimize the loss of vital ecosystem services, the implications and expected rise of marine aquaculture necessitate increased efforts toward environmentally sound development of the sector.
Technical advancements, aquaculture producers’ expanding expertise and skills, and greater awareness of environmental consequences, operational, and governance prospects all point to a healthy marine aquaculture sector that can feed and sustain a growing global population.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution caused roughly 7 million premature deaths in 2012 (one out of every eight deaths worldwide), which is more than quadruple earlier estimates. It is the leading cause of death from environmental causes.
In most cities where there is enough data to make comparisons with past years, air quality is decreasing. The WHO recommends a fine particulate matter level of 25 microgrammes per cubic metre on a yearly basis. Low- and middle-income cities greatly outnumber this figure. Particulate matter (PM2.5) levels of above 500 microgrammes per cubic metre have been reported in Kathmandu, Nepal, for example.
The cost of air pollution to the world’s biggest developed nations, plus India and China, is estimated to be US$3.5 trillion per year in terms of lives lost and health problems. The monetary impact of death and sickness due to outdoor air pollution was projected to be US$1.7 trillion in 2010 in countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to research, motorized on-road transportation accounts for nearly half of the total.
Because of the enormous costs associated with the health and environmental repercussions of air pollution, the research recommends that all governments engage in clean air policies.
The paper concludes that citizen science, or research undertaken in part or entirely by the public, can go beyond simple data collection to help create fundamental questions about our environment and deliver novel solutions. It has grown over the last ten years, thanks in part to the Internet, social media, and other technological advancements. Volunteer opportunities in scientific research have expanded, ranging from cancer data analysis to theoretical physics.
Indigenous peoples can make significant contributions to environmental policy and resource protection through citizen science, which includes the utilization of traditional knowledge. The data and other information gathered through citizen science programs has been proven to be accurate and reliable. However, there are several roadblocks to fully fulfilling citizen science’s potential, which can be overcome by:
- To eliminate project redundancy, more collaboration between scientists and project developers is needed to use and collaborate with known and proven initiatives.
- Global coordination is needed to gather and analyze data provided by citizen science, which would aid in the discovery of valuable knowledge that policymakers may exploit.
The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is the highest-level UN body ever assembled on the environment. All 193 United Nations member states, as well as other stakeholder groups, are members. The new entity gives a ground-breaking platform for leadership on global environmental policy with its broad reach into the legislative, financial, and development arenas. UNEA will host around 1200 attendees, 170 country delegations, 80 ministers, and 40 activities during the course of the five-day event, which will take place at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, from June 23 to 27.
What is the impact of pollution on growth and development?
There’s no denying that air pollution is bad for your lungs. Because their lungs are still growing and developing, babies and children are especially exposed to air pollution.
Air pollution can affect the normal development of lung function in the womb, during childhood, and into late adolescence.
High levels of air pollution have been associated to an increase in asthma attacks in children with asthma.
When we are indoors, outdoors, or in the car, air pollution can have an impact on the quality of the air we breathe.
Why does pollution rise in tandem with rising per capita income?
Effects of Scale, Composition, and Technology If the output mix and manufacturing practices remain constant, a scale expansion will inevitably result in a commensurate increase in pollution. However, as per capita income rises, the output mix and production processes tend to shift.
What is the economic impact of water pollution?
In many countries, declining water quality is stifling economic progress, affecting health, lowering food supply, and intensifying poverty.” David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, stated this.