Enviro News Asia, Nairobi — Every US$1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together could generate around US$15 in economic benefits, according to a new global assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
The finding is highlighted in the report “Hidden Assets: The Economic and Health Case for Climate and Clean Air Action,” released on September 7, 2026. The report is described as the first comprehensive global economic assessment of integrated climate and clean-air action.
The assessment found that addressing climate change and air pollution through coordinated policies can deliver greater economic benefits than treating the two challenges separately.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said clean air should be viewed not simply as an environmental goal but as an asset that supports development, health, food security, energy security and climate stability.
The Economic Value of Clean-Air Action
The report estimates that implementing 25 identified measures could generate annual economic benefits equivalent to 2.8% of global GDP in 2035, 4.5% in 2050 and 11.4% in 2100.
By comparison, explicit fossil-fuel subsidies accounted for 2.18% of global GDP in 2022, while healthcare spending reached 9.3% of global GDP in 2023.
The report estimates that every year of delayed action would mean more than US$1.5 trillion in forgone annual benefits, equivalent to about 0.5% of global GDP.
Even without including non-market welfare benefits, the measures could generate around US$4 for every US$1 invested.
The economic benefits include lower healthcare costs, higher labour productivity and reduced physical damage, as well as the economic value associated with preventing premature deaths and improving quality of life.
Air Pollution Creates Major Health Costs
The assessment estimates that exposure to human-caused outdoor air pollution, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, was associated with about 6.4 million premature deaths worldwide in 2025.
Household air pollution was linked to an additional 2 million premature deaths, including around 300,000 children.
Outdoor air pollution also contributed to an estimated 5.5 million new cases of childhood asthma and 2 million new cases of dementia in 2025, alongside millions of cases of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, stroke and lung cancer.
The report incorporates the economic effects of pollution-related illness, including pressure on healthcare systems, productivity losses and reduced well-being.
25 Measures Target Major Emission Sources
The report identifies 25 measures across six sectors: energy and fossil-fuel systems, industry, transport, agriculture and food systems, residential cooking and heating, and waste management.
The measures combine long-term decarbonization efforts with action targeting short-lived climate pollutants and other major pollutants, including methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
Recommended measures include expanding renewable energy and energy efficiency, improving clean cooking and heating, strengthening vehicle emissions standards, expanding electric vehicles, using cleaner fuels in shipping, reducing oil and gas leaks and routine flaring, improving livestock and manure management, using fertilizer more efficiently, improving rice cultivation, reducing crop-residue burning, strengthening solid-waste and wastewater management, and phasing down HFCs.
Full implementation of the measures could prevent an estimated 144 million air-pollution-related premature deaths by 2050, including 96 million deaths associated with ambient air pollution.
Climate Benefits Could Be Significant
Immediate implementation of the measures could halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 compared with the report’s baseline scenario.
The assessment also projects a 60% reduction in methane emissions and around 70% reductions in major air pollutants, including black carbon, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
The measures could avoid approximately 0.34°C of global warming by 2050 and 1.4°C by 2100.
The report estimates that avoided warming could reach 1.5–2°C in many regions by the end of the century because land areas generally warm faster than the global average.
By 2100, carbon dioxide emissions under the scenario could become net negative, while major air pollutants could decline by as much as 85%.
Simon Dietz, co-chair of the assessment and professor of environmental policy at the London School of Economics, said integrating climate and air-pollution policies reveals benefits that can be missed when the two issues are evaluated separately.
Closing the Implementation Gap
The report identifies fragmented decision-making, limited enforcement capacity and weak coordination among governments as major barriers to implementation.
These institutional barriers could delay full implementation by almost eight years globally.
The report says fiscal incentives and regulations that enable the private sector to deploy profitable emissions-reduction technologies could accelerate implementation and unlock up to US$10 trillion in additional health benefits by 2040.
UNEP and CCAC therefore call for climate, air-quality, health and economic policies to be planned together, supported by stronger institutions, effective enforcement and better alignment between public and private finance. (*)
