This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Every US$1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together can generate around US$15 in economic benefits, according to a report published today by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
This is higher than tackling climate and clean air separately, and it includes both market and nonmarket economic gains. Released on the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, Hidden Assets: The Economic and Health Case for Climate and Clean-Air Action is the first comprehensive global economic assessment of integrated climate and clean-air action. "For too long, we have treated climate action as a cost to be managed and air pollution as the unfortunate outcome of development.
This report shows the opposite: Clean air is a key driver of development, health, food and energy security, and climate stability—an asset we must invest in," said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. "Proven solutions already exist. What we lack is the decisive leadership from governments, financial institutions and businesses to deliver them with the speed and coordination this crisis demands." The annual economic benefits of implementing 25 measures identified in the report would be equivalent to: In comparison, 2.18% of global GDP was spent on explicit fossil fuel subsidies in 2022, and 9.3% of global GDP was spent on health care in 2023.
Every year of delayed action would forgo more than US$1.5 trillion annually—0.5% of GDP—in combined market and nonmarket benefits. Even excluding nonmarket welfare benefits, the measures return around US$4 for every US$1 invested. "A benefit-cost ratio of 15-to-1 would attract capital instantly in almost any other sector.
The only reason it hasn't for integrated climate and clean air action yet is that the returns are split across health systems, productivity and avoided climate damage rather than landing on a single balance sheet. Every year of delay costs the world more than US$1.5 trillion in benefits we will not get back. Finance ministries and investors who keep climate and air quality in separate budget lines are leaving trillions on the table," said Elliott Harris, independent co-chair of the Assessment.
The US$15 return includes measurable market benefits—such as lower health care expenditures, greater labor productivity and avoided physical damage—and the monetary value of fewer premature deaths and healthier lives. In 2025, exposure to human-caused outdoor air pollution (PM2.5 and ozone) was linked to an estimated 6.4 million premature deaths worldwide. Household air pollution was linked to a further 2 million premature deaths, including around 300,000 children.
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