The financial cost of air pollution in Europe stands at more than US$1.6 trillion per year, a study by the WHO has found, equating to about a 10th of the continent’s GDP.
While air pollution has long been known to be a major environmental burden, the costs in human and economic terms have not been categorized before.
The costs come in the form of 600,000 premature deaths each year, and the sickness caused to hundreds of thousands of other people from preventable causes, such as pollution from small particles that come from the exhausts of diesel vehicles and nitrogen dioxide, a gas that can inhibit breathing in vulnerable people.
The figures are from 2010, the latest year for which full data is available, and cover the whole of the European region, including non-EU states such as Norway and Switzerland, and were compiled by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“Curbing the health effects of air pollution pays dividends. The evidence we have provides decisionmakers across the whole of government with a compelling reason to act,” WHO regional director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab said.
In many East European countries, the WHO data shows, the economic costs of dirty air are more than 10 percent of their GDP.
On absolute economic costs, the top 10 list is dominated by major economies.
In the UK, air pollution has become so bad in London that the EU is to levy fines on the local government, reflecting years in which the extent of pollution has been in excess of EU standards.
The WHO report found that air pollution was the single biggest environmental health risk in Europe. The deaths or sickness of at least one in four Europeans can be traced to environmental pollution, it said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was