Fighting pollution is a choice that generates profit. This is what emerges from a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (Ccac) published on September 7.
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Clean air is not a mere environmental cost, but a true engine of development and an economic asset for finance ministries. Every dollar invested in the twenty-five integrated solutions identified by experts generates about 15 dollars of total economic benefits. These solutions would include the transition to renewable sources, emission reductions in the oil & gas sector, intensification of post-combustion controls in industries and power plants, greater energy efficiency, stricter standards on vehicle emissions.
The benefits on GDP
The implementation of the measures will generate benefits equivalent to 2.8% of global GDP by 2035, 4.5% by 2050, and up to 11.4% by 2100. The required investment is about 0.7% of global GDP in the next decade, dropping to 0.5% by 2100 (much lower than what governments currently spend on fossil fuel subsidies, equal to 2.18% of GDP).
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But the advantage is not only economic. Until now, public budgets have treated healthcare as an isolated expenditure sector. The Unep report overturns this view, showing that human capital and workers’ health are the real drivers of GDP, while pollution acts as a heavy invisible tax that erodes nations’ productive capacity.
The consequences on public health
In 2025 alone, air pollution presented a huge epidemiological toll, causing 6.4 million premature deaths outdoors and 2 million indoors. Among these victims, the death of 300,000 children under five years old represents not only a human tragedy but a direct destruction of tomorrow’s economic potential and workforce. The implementation of the integrated package would prevent 144 million premature deaths and drastically reduce the burden of chronic diseases that constrain public spending: 62 million cases of childhood asthma; 87 million heart attacks and 45 million strokes; 63 million cases of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and 56 million type 2 diabetes; 36 million cases of dementia and 7 million lung cancers.
