Fossil fuel pollution kills millions more than experts realised

NEW DELHI: Actions to slow the process of global warming focus on the future damages of continuing to burn fossil fuels. However, a new research released on Tuesday, February 9, shows that lethal consequences from pollution are killing larger numbers of people at the present than had been assumed previously.

According to a new research by a team of scientists from the United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom published in the journal ‘Environmental Research’, fossil fuels are alone responsible for more than 8 million premature deaths every year. That is double the previous high-end estimate of fine-particle pollution mortality, and three times the combined number killed by acquired immune deficiency syndrome/human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis, and malaria in 2018.

Although air quality has improved in many countries, particularly wealthier ones, the findings support that even at lower concentrations, pollution caused by fossil fuels is more lethal than previously understood. In USA, for instance, the researchers found that 350,000 premature deaths annually are attributable to fine-particulate pollution generated by fossil-fuel combustion, up from previous estimates of roughly 100,000 to 150,000. This means even successful pollution-fighters have more work to do, particularly in poor and historically disadvantaged areas, where pollution is even more concentrated.

The new study betters on previous methods in various ways. Much previous work, including the past editions of the influential Global Burden of Disease study, depended on equivalents extrapolated from studies of cigarette smoking. Now, however, there’s enough information on the real health effects of PM2.5, the deadliest type of airborne particulate matter made up of particles smaller than 2.5 millionths of a metre, that the researchers could refine their findings.

The scientists also made other methodological advancements, including by deriving a tighter relationship between levels of air pollution and their effects in different regions from a comprehensive survey of research from around the globe. An improved model of how air pollution travels gave scientists greater confidence in their numbers.