Staff Reporter :
Ahead of the upcoming 2019 Climate Action Summit, United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and Climate and Clean
Air Coalition announced the “Clean Air Initiative”, calling upon governments at all levels to join the initiative.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has already called upon all leaders to come to New York to join the summit to be held on September 23 of 2019 with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade, and net zero emissions by 2050.
The “Clean Air Initiative” calls on national and sub-national governments to commit to achieving air quality that is safe for citizens, and align climate change and air pollution policies by 2030, said a media release shared by the UN office on Saturday.
According to WHO, each year, air pollution causes seven million premature deaths, of which 600,000 are children.
According to the World Bank, air pollution costs the global economy an estimated $5.11 trillion in welfare losses and in the 15 countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, health impacts of air pollution are estimated to cost more than four percent of GDP.
Meeting the Paris Agreement on climate change, however, could save over one million lives a year by 2050 and yield health benefits worth an estimated $54.1 trillion – about twice the costs of mitigation – through reduced air pollution alone, the release added.
The Clean Air Initiative has been developed as part of the Social and Political Drivers Action Area of the 2019 Climate Action Summit, led by WHO, together with the Governments of Peru and Spain, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the International Labor Organization.
Ahead of the upcoming 2019 Climate Action Summit, United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and Climate and Clean
Air Coalition announced the “Clean Air Initiative”, calling upon governments at all levels to join the initiative.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has already called upon all leaders to come to New York to join the summit to be held on September 23 of 2019 with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade, and net zero emissions by 2050.
The “Clean Air Initiative” calls on national and sub-national governments to commit to achieving air quality that is safe for citizens, and align climate change and air pollution policies by 2030, said a media release shared by the UN office on Saturday.
According to WHO, each year, air pollution causes seven million premature deaths, of which 600,000 are children.
According to the World Bank, air pollution costs the global economy an estimated $5.11 trillion in welfare losses and in the 15 countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions, health impacts of air pollution are estimated to cost more than four percent of GDP.
Meeting the Paris Agreement on climate change, however, could save over one million lives a year by 2050 and yield health benefits worth an estimated $54.1 trillion – about twice the costs of mitigation – through reduced air pollution alone, the release added.
The Clean Air Initiative has been developed as part of the Social and Political Drivers Action Area of the 2019 Climate Action Summit, led by WHO, together with the Governments of Peru and Spain, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the International Labor Organization.
