From Greenpeace, dramatic figures on pollution, for health but also for the economy: 4.5 million premature deaths, 2,900 billion euros wasted. A way to convince states that converting pays off.
Air pollution threatens not only our health but also our economy. It causes millions of premature deaths every year and increases the risks of heart attacks, lung cancer and asthma, at an economic cost of trillions of dollars. Every year, moreover, around 40,000 children under the age of five die from illnesses caused by exposure to PM2.5, the fine particulate matter of medium size produced by the burning of fossil fuels. And, again among the very young, 4 million new cases of asthma are recorded every year.
But that is not all: pollution also causes nearly 2 billion days of sick leave, with an economic loss of around 101 billion dollars a year. This is the price we all pay because of fossil fuels, as revealed by the data in the new Greenpeace report Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels, produced with the support of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea).
The figures are extremely alarming: it is estimated that 4.5 million premature deaths occur worldwide every year, 56,000 of them in Italy, although the greatest cost in terms of human lives falls on nations far from Europe (China, India, and also the United States).
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But there is more: Greenpeace and Crea have attempted, for the first time, to quantify the damage caused by fossil fuel sources from a strictly economic perspective as well. This should help businesses and governments — perhaps more interested in profit than in the health of people and the planet — understand that finding "clean" alternatives is nonetheless advantageous.
According to Greenpeace, economic losses amount to 2,900 billion dollars, equivalent to three per cent of global gross domestic product. That is roughly 8 billion dollars a day. Mainland China, the United States and India bear the highest costs of air pollution caused by fossil fuels, at 900, 600 and 150 billion dollars a year respectively. Italy comes in at "only" 61 billion. Subsidies to coal, destruction of natural habitats and medical expenditure are all factors contributing to the hefty bill that individual states pay for pollution.
For this reason too, Greenpeace Italia explains, "it is essential that the Italian government does not backtrack on phasing out coal by 2025, as the latest version of the Pniec — the Piano nazionale integrato energia e clima — would instead appear to suggest. We must move with courage and determination towards renewable energy, abandoning false solutions such as gas. And major private players such as banks and insurance companies must stop providing financing to fossil fuels." Transition towards renewables, public transport and lower-impact forms of mobility are among the future solutions put forward by the environmental organisation.
