Around 92 percent of Asia Pacific’s population, or about 4 billion people, are exposed to levels of air pollution that pose a significant risk to their health. Air pollution also has damaging impacts on the environment and agricultural crop yields. These impacts have significant economic consequences. While existing policies have made progress in reducing air pollution, further action is needed to bring air quality to safe levels.
This report is the first-ever comprehensive scientific assessment of the air pollution outlook in the Asia and the Pacific region. It outlines 25 clean air measures that could achieve safe air quality levels for 1 billion people by 2030, with numerous benefits for public health, economic development, and the climate. It splits the measures into three groups:
- Conventional emission controls;
- Next-stage air-quality measures for reducing emissions leading to the formation of fine particulates, which are not yet major components of many clean air policies; and
- Measures contributing to development priority goals with benefits for air quality.
Implementing the 25 measures is projected to cost US$300–600 billion per year, or only about 5 percent of the projected annual GDP increase of US$12 trillion in 2030.