Context: According to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of IQAir data from a live Cost Estimator and uses live air quality data collected by IQAir, PM2.5 air pollution claimed approximately 54,000 lives in India’s national capital in 2020.

• Note: A cost estimator is an online tool that tracks the real-time health impact and economic costs of air pollution in major world cities. 

Six Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow — feature in the global analysis.

Key Findings

• Globally, approximate 160,000 deaths have been attributed to PM2.5 air pollution in the five most populous cities. 
• Five most populous cities — Delhi (India), Mexico City (Mexico), São Paulo (Brazil), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan).
• An estimated 25,000 avoidable deaths in Mumbai in 2020 have been attributed to air pollution.
• Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad estimated an approximate 12,000, 11,000, and 11,000 avoidable deaths respectively due to polluted air.
• To show the impact of air pollution related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called “willingness-to-pay”, a lost life year or a year lived with disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome.

Indicators Used in Measurement
PM 2.5 Measurements

• Real-time ground-level PM 2.5 measurements were collected from different places and combined together in IQAir’s database.
• IQAir is an air quality technology company.
• Using Algorithms, such data was applied to scientific risk models in combination with population and public health data to estimate the health and economic costs of air pollution exposure.

Willingness To Pay: To show the impact of air pollution-related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called ‘willingness-to-pay’ — a lost life year or a year lived with disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome.

Cost Estimator: The ‘Cost Estimator’, an online tool that estimates the real-time health impact and economic cost from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) air pollution in major world cities, was deployed in a collaboration between Greenpeace Southeast Asia, IQAir and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Computing the “Lost Years”

• To show the impact of air pollution-related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called ‘willingness-to-pay.
• It refers to a lost life year or a year lived with a disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome.

?Greenpeace recommends

• Despite a temporary reprieve in air quality owing to the lockdown, the latest figures from the report underscore the need to act immediately.
• The need of the hour is to rapidly scale up renewable energy, bring an end to fossil fuel emissions and boost sustainable and accessible transport systems.

Harmful effects of Air Pollution

• Heart disease, lungcancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema, long-term damage to people's nerves, brain, kidneys, liver, and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects.

International measures

• United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
• Paris Deal
• Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air-Pollution 
• Sulphur Emissions Reduction Protocol
• Gothenburg protocol.

Remedial steps taken by government

• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB): statutory organisation was constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Further, CPCB was entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
• NGT: established under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection
• THE AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT, 1981: enacted after India’s participation in United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June, 1972
• National Clean Air Programme (NCAP): long-term, time-bound, nationallevel strategy to tackle the air pollution with targets to achieve 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year.
• National Air Quality Index: The measurement of air quality is based on eight pollutants, namely, Particulate Matter (size less than 10 µm) or (PM10), Particulate Matter (size less than 2.5 µm) or (PM5), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), Ammonia (NH3), and Lead (Pb)
• Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) developed by CPCB. CPCB has done a nationwide environmental assessment of Industrial Clusters based on CEPI.