Air Pollution Listening Test 1

Air Pollution Lecture Transcript

The Global Cost of Air Pollution

TRANSCRIPT: Hello and welcome to this short lecture on the global cost of air pollution. I’ve divided my talk today into three key parts. I’ll begin with a short definition of air pollution, then I’ll discuss the economic cost of air pollution including the health effects. After this, I’ll look at a number of solutions to help reduce air pollution for developed and developing countries and finish with a summary of the lecture’s key points.

Ok, so let’s begin with a short definition of air pollution. Air pollution concerns the emission of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere which can have a detrimental impact on the health of humans and the planet. These pollutants include particulate matter (PM), ozone, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) which stem from factories, motor vehicles, forest fires and fossil fuels to name a few. PM2.5 is used as a global indicator of the world’s most polluted cities, of which Hotan in Xinjiang, in Western China is currently the most, with an average of 110 PM2.5µg/m³, and a rating ranging from unhealthy to hazardous. Moreover, according to the World Air Quality Report (2021) thirteen of the fifteen most heavily polluted cities are in India, with cities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia also featuring in the top 50, due to PM2.5 levels over 90. Just to put this into context, the World Health Organisation’s PM2.5 safe rating target is between zero and twelve.

When a country has a PM2.5 rating of unhealthy, it can cause serious health effects. The National Geographic Society (2022) state that recent research provides clear evidence that the long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases such as emphysema. They also emphasise that air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people’s nerves, brains, kidneys, livers, and other organs which in turn leads to a shorter life expectancy. In addition, the World Bank (2018) report that air pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death. Air pollution causes more than 9 million premature deaths accounting for 16% of all deaths worldwide. That’s three times more deaths than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15 times more than from all wars and other forms of violence. Overall, the PM2.5 ratings of some the most polluted cities in the world are considerably higher than the World Health Organisation’s PM2.5 safe rating target which suggests that much more needs to be done to lower air pollution levels.

Ok, now let’s look at the economic costs of air pollution. Perhaps unknowingly, air pollution can affect a nation’s economy significantly in three ways: reduced labour productivity, health expenditures and agricultural loses. According to The World Bank, although the estimated cost of the negative effects of air pollution was $8.1 trillion, equal to 6.1% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019, an increase from the $2.9 trillion or 3.3% of GDP in 2018, it is generally the lower-middle and upper-middle income countries which suffer the most. For example, McCarthy (2020) reveals that air pollution costs India $150 billion, the equivalent to 5.4% of their GDP every year, and in China, it is a cost of $900 billion each year, or 6.6% of their GDP. This is most likely due to the rise in sick leave and being incapable of work as a result of the growing likelihood of workers and their families becoming ill, as well as in the increase in medical costs associated with sick leave and premature births which in 2018, cost the economy $200 billion and $90 billion respectively. In addition, the OECD (2022) reports that high levels of concentration of pollutants, and particularly of ozone, also reduce crop yields and thus affect agricultural productivity. According to the TM5-FASST calculations, and in line with the larger literature, crop yields are projected to be negatively affected in all regions, with big differences between regions and crops. In many regions, wheat and oil seeds are more affected than the other crops, with high losses in many countries, including Japan, Korea and the USA. Thus, it is clear that as air pollution is one of the major risks to our health, and thus has a considerable influence on the state of a nation’s economy, workable solutions for this problem must be found, and quickly.

So, now let’s look at some possible solutions. One possible way of tackling the problem of air pollution is to implement more comprehensive policies, especially in countries where the levels are dangerously high. Amann et al. (2020) claim that the Clean Air Scenario could drastically cut pollutant emissions within the next twenty years through practices in energy, such as decarbonizing the power sector, using solar and wind resources in place of coal for supplying electricity, and capturing and storing carbon from power stations. Farming creates a considerable amount of air pollution especially nitrogen oxide so suggestions include composting and anaerobic digestion to avoid the production of nitrogen and methane in the treatment of manure, and using organic residual products as soil amendments instead of chemical fertilisers for crop nutrient requirements can all have a huge impact on reducing pollution.

With regard to transport, which is considered to be the biggest culprit with over 24% of global emissions, it can be divided into three main categories: private, freight, and public transport. Private transport refers to people’s private cars, vans and motorcycles. The primary solution here is electrification of cars. This is supported by Greenpeace (2020) who argue that as electric cars produce zero emissions ‘at the pipe’, coupled with the fact that if the electricity that powers them is renewable, then those emissions are also zero. Freight transport refers to the transportation of goods and personnel from one place to the other by road, rail, sea or air. At present freight transport accounts for 17% of all CO2 emissions making it the key focus to reduce harmful emissions. Slowly freight vehicles are becoming more energy efficient but stronger policies are needed to accelerate the establishment of infrastructure to support zero-emission vehicles. Policies that promote the blending of true low-carbon fuels and electrification are critical to decarbonize freight transport. There is evidence of decarbonizing happening now in the aviation and the shipping industry which are both working hard to reduce their carbon footprint through the research and development of biofuels and hydrogen power.  With regards to public transport, governments need to focus on more efficient and affordable electrified public transport, greener infrastructure such as cycling lanes and pedestrian zones, and banning petrol and diesel cars from entering major city centres.

I’d now just like to specifically focus on developing countries. WHO puts forward two urgent goals  to drastically reduce its air pollution issues. The first is a need to set their sights on developing cleaner energy and renewable resources and stop investing in cheap fossil fuels namely coal. The second is for developing country’s governments to enforce anti-pollution laws more rigidly across the whole country and coordinate with all the different constituencies clearly. Currently, many cities have different policies and regulations regarding air pollution.

Ok, let’s summarise. Today I’ve spoken about what air pollution is, some of the most polluted cities in the world and the health effects of air pollution. I’ve also discussed the economic costs of air pollution in terms of labour, health and agriculture and I’ve offered possible solutions to reducing air pollution in both developed and developing countries. From the data in today’s lecture, it is quite apparent that poorer nations suffer the most, not only in terms of health, but also regarding the economy. It is, therefore, vital that all nations come together to implement practical and long-lasting solutions to prevent the effects of air pollution from becoming so catastrophic that they cannot be reversed.

Written by AEUK / Spoken by C. Watts

Reference list

Amann, M. et. al., (2020). Reducing global air pollution: the scope for further policy interventions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences [pdf]. 378, 2183. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0331 [Viewed 03.04.2022].

IQAir, (2021). World’s most polluted cities 2020 (PM2.5) [online]. Available at: https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-cities [Viewed 03.04.2022].

McCarthy, N., (2020). Report: Air pollution from burning fossil fuels cost the global economy $3 trillion in 2018 [online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/02/12/report-air-pollution-from-burning-fossil-fuels-cost-the-global-economy-3-trillion-in-2018-infographic/?sh=3dacc3e16f8a [Viewed 03.04.2022].

National Geographic Society (2022). Air Pollution [online]. National Geographic Society. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/air-pollution/  [Viewed 04.04.2022].

OECD (2022). Economic consequences of air pollution [online]. Oecd.org. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/environment/indicators-modelling-outlooks/Policy-Highlights-Economic-consequences-of-outdoor-air-pollution-web.pdf  [Viewed 04.04.2022].

The World Bank, (2018). Pollution [online]. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pollution#1 [Viewed 05.04.2022].

The World Bank, (2020). Pollution [online]. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pollution#1 [Viewed 05.04.2022].

Greenpeace (2020). Three ways we can solve the air pollution crisis [online]. Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/28533/3-ways-we-can-solve-the-air-pollution-crisis/ [Viewed 06.04.2022].

WHO (2022). Poverty & Pollution: How to reduce air pollution in developing countries [online]. The Borgen Project – WHO. Available at: https://borgenproject.org/reduce-air-pollution-in-developing-countries/  [Viewed 05.04.2022].