WEALTH

FOCUS
Outdoor air pollution, which kills an estimated 3
million people every year, has grown by 8% a year
globally. Unless nations take action, the global
death toll is expected to double by 2050 as urban
populations increase and car numbers grow – yet the topic
rarely makes the mainstream media headlines.
Of all the world’s regions, Asia is uniquely exposed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO),
98% of urban areas in low- and middle-income countries
with populations of more than 100,000 do not meet its air
quality standards. Fast-growing cities in Southeast Asia,
the Western Pacific and the Middle East are the worst
affected, with many showing pollution levels at up to 10
times WHO limits.
Rapid urbanization as well as population and economic
growth across the region is creating pollution from oilfueled
traffic congestion, coal burning for heat and power,
smoke from solid fuel cookers, and a range of pollutants
from inefficient agricultural processes. A changing climate
threatens to make matters worse still.
Hotter towns and cities will generate more
ozone-related pollution from traffic and other
fossil fuel emissions sources. When it’s hotter,
rainfall and wind patterns can also change,
causing particulates to stay suspended in the
air longer.
DEADLY SMOG
Then there’s the vicious circle in which hotter
conditions cause those with access to air
conditioning to use it more, pushing more
pollutants into the air from coal-fired power plants. A
hotter climate could also spark more forest fires,
contributing to region-wide, health-threatening smogs,
such as the 2015 Southeast Asian haze caused by illegal
slash-and-burn practices that affected eight countries.
A hotter climate in Asia will have impact beyond poorer
air quality. As temperatures rise, so do hospital admissions
for respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses. This is an
experience all too familiar lately in Southeast Asia and the
Indian subcontinent, where heatwaves have killed
thousands and put severe pressure on health services.
There are also economic impacts to hotter conditions.
The region’s extensive manufacturing and agriculture
sectors mean its workers face exposure not just to polluted
air but also to the physiological effects of heat.
“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that temperature
extremes impact productivity,” says Joshua Graff Zivin
at the University of California in San Diego’s Global
Health Institute. “There are negative impacts for people
who work in exposed sectors like manufacturing,
» THERE NEEDS TO
BE A TRANSITION
AWAY FROM
BURNING LOW
QUALITY FUELS,
AND MOVING UP
THE ENERGY
LADDER TO
NATURAL GAS «
agriculture and construction. People lose a couple of hours
out of a workweek. Most people don’t realize that the vast
majority of manufacturing is taking place in cheap tin
construction sheds with process heat, lots of activity,
very little cooling and exposure to the outside air from
giant open truck bays.”
MANAGING RISKS
Success in tackling these issues has been hitherto
disappointingly limited and patchy in Asia. It might be
expected, for example, that as the region industrialized
and became wealthier, air pollution would reverse, with
stronger measures put into place to limit the worst effects.
Yet this has been far from the case. Although China has
until recently been the most striking example, where more
than 350 cities do not meet WHO’s air quality standards,
India might now lay claim to the dubious reputation of
being the worst nation for air quality: four Indian cities
occupy the global top 10 for sub-PM2.5 pollution. Other
countries in the region, including Pakistan
and Indonesia, are struggling to tackle the
issue.
There are signs of progress, however. In
April, health, climate and weather experts
from across the region gathered in Colombo,
Sri Lanka, for the first Climate Services Forum
for Health, to help better understand and
manage the risks from heatwaves.
Meanwhile, China has begun to make
significant progress in cleaning up its air, and
more measures are in the pipeline, says Junjie
Zhang, from the University of California in San Diego’s
School of Global Policy and Strategy, who has worked on a
range of climate and air quality related research projects.
“For China, the situation is getting better overall.”
STRONGER ENFORCEMENT
Slower economic growth and a move to a less resourceintensive
economy is part of the reason for improving
trends in China. But policy is also having an impact.
The central government is taking the issue seriously;
it has begun enforcing existing rules more strongly
and will be adding more. Modest air pollution fees are
already in force and new environmental taxes look likely,
says Zhang.
“China’s new minister of environmental protection is
focused on enforcement and this is the key for China, where
there has been poor enforcement at a local level. If a city
does not comply with environmental standards, leaders of
the local government would be called to the ministry and
reprimanded. Local governments are under pressure.
Allianz • 29