Improved compliance with Indian air quality standards would save 2.1 billion life-years for over half of India’s population, found a team of economists in the United States. India’s air pollution is among the worst in the world.
The study by economists from the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Yale shows that over half of India’s population – 660 million people – live in areas where fine particular matter pollution is above the country’s standards for what is considered safe.
If India were to meet its air standards in these areas, those 660 million people would gain about 3.2 years onto their lives, the equivalent of saving 2.1 billion life-years.
“India’s focus is necessarily on growth. However, for too long, the conventional definition of growth has ignored the health consequences of air pollution,” says Michael Greenstone, an author of the study and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
While other studies have shown that air pollution reduces work productivity because it increases the number of sick days and raises health care expenses that could otherwise be devoted to economic production, “this study demonstrates that air pollution retards growth by causing people to die prematurely,” explains Greenstone.
World Health Organization estimates showed that 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India. Delhi is the world’s worst ranked city, and India has the world’s highest rate of death caused by chronic respiratory diseases.
The authors argue that three policy solutions could help to decrease India’s pollution in a cost-effective manner. First, India should step-up air-pollution monitoring by incorporating real-time monitoring technology and building more monitoring stations. As a point of comparison, Beijing has 35 monitoring stations, while Kolkota – the Indian city with the most monitoring stations – has only 20.
The government should also introduce more civilian penalties, rather than criminal ones, to provide polluters with an incentive to reduce pollution, such as a ‘polluter pays’ system. The current environmental laws have such severe criminal penalties that they are difficult to enforce, write the authors.
Finally, India should adopt a market-based approach towards regulating emissions. An emissions trading system could reduce pollution at the lowest possible cost while still allowing the country to focus on continued economic growth.
Photo credit: Mark Danielson, flickr/Creative Commons
