The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), a well-known international economic agency, has written several major reports about the health and economic consequences of air pollution. Here is a summary of some of their reports.
1. The impact of air pollution on economic activity, specifically macroeconomics, GDP, work absences, and productivity. It turns out the air pollution causes so much health harm, it really impacts the economy through increased work absence, decreased productivity, and decreased agricultural yields.
This is the overall website for the report, and lets you choose to read it online or as a PDF. If you would rather go straight to the PDF, this is the link to the PDF.
On p.8 there is a graph of macroeconomic consequences of air pollution (which climate change will make worse) showing a major decrease in GDP in the next 40 years due to the impacts of air pollution on labor productivity, health expenses, and decreased agricultural yields.
2. This is a report about Europe specifically looking at how air pollution impacts GDP.
It finds that an increase of 1 mcg/m3 (microgram per cubic meter) in the average annual concentration PM2.5 (fine particulate air pollution) causes a decrease of 0.8 % decrease in GDP (range 0.5-1.5%). Any amount spent to reduce air pollution could increase GDP as much as 200 times greater than the costs of the air pollution controls. This means that if our country spends $500 billion for clean energy, clean transportation, and energy conservation, we could see many $ trillions of improvement in GDP. (The executive summary is pages 7-11, very worth reading).
“Our estimates suggest that the economic benefits from such emissions reductions would be unquestionably greater than these costs and – if they translate linearly into reductions in concentration of similar magnitude –around 200 times greater. Therefore, stronger air quality regulations could be warranted based on their previously underestimated economic benefits.”
3. Worldwide, air pollution from road transport causes about half the health impacts of air pollution, in terms of asthma, heart disease, other health conditions, and premature deaths. Therefore any amount we spend on EV infrastructure will pay for itself many times over.
If our leaders decide to spend $500 billion on clean energy, clean transportation, and energy efficiency, it will have major impacts on improving the economy, on the order of many trillions increase in GDP. It will also vastly improve our health and well-being, and because of our country’s environmental racism leading to more exposure to power plants and highways for communities of color, it will help reduce some of the health disparities our country has created.
#HealthyAirIsHealthCare
11/08/2021
