India is facing an air emergency with most of its biggest cities becoming unbreathable over the years. A report said that burning of fossil fuel that leads to severe air pollution costs India $150 billion each year.?
According to the latest report by environment organisation Greenpeace Southeast Asia with inputs from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the cost of air pollution borne by India from fossil fuels is 5.4 per cent of the country's annual GDP.
The research quantifies the contribution of fossil fuels to global air pollution levels.
"The global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels is estimated to be around USD 2.9 trillion, or 3.3 per cent of the world's GDP annually.
"India is estimated to bear 10.7 lakh crore ($150 billion), or 5.4 per cent of India's GDP annually, the third highest costs from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide," the report said, adding that China with $900 billion bears the highest costs followed by the United States with $600 billion.
The report said that close to 980,000 estimated pre-term births, equating to an annual economic loss of Rs 10.7 lakh crore is attributed to air pollution from fossil fuel in India.
Another source of economic costs is that approximately 350,000 new cases of child asthma each year are linked to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a by-product of fossil fuel combustion.
"As a result, around 12.85 lakh more children in India live with asthma linked to fossil fuel pollution. Exposure to pollution from fossil fuels also leads to around 49 crore days of work absence due to illness," it said.
Greenpeace said air pollution is a threat to human health and world's economies.
"Every year, air pollution from fossil fuels takes millions of lives, increases our risk of stroke, lung cancer and asthma, and costs us trillions of dollars. But this is a problem that we know how to solve, by transitioning to renewable energy sources, phasing out diesel and petrol cars, and building public transport.
"We need to take into account the real cost of fossil fuels, not just for our rapidly heating planet, but also for our health," said Minwoo Son, Clean Air Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.
Even as studies and reports confirm the deadly impact of air pollution, Indian ministers are conveniently ignore the fatal alarm. Last year, union environment minister Prakash Javadekar?said that there was no Indian study that established?any connection between air pollution and reduced life span. After this comment of his, the World Health Organization (WHO) rebuked Javadekar for stating that air pollution has no impact on public health. WHO officials said, ¡°We wish it didn¡¯t kill people but unfortunately it does.¡±