• Implementing 25 climate and clean-air measures could deliver annual benefits equal to 4.5% of global GDP by 2050.
• Immediate action could prevent 144 million premature deaths by mid-century and avoid 1.4°C of warming by 2100.
• Fragmented governance and weak enforcement could delay full implementation by almost eight years.

UN makes the economic case for clean air

Coordinated action on climate change and air pollution could produce returns far beyond the cost of implementation, according to a new global assessment.

The UN Environment Programme and Climate and Clean Air Coalition examined 25 proven measures across six major economic sectors. The package includes renewable power, electric vehicles, clean cooking, energy efficiency and controls on methane leaks.

The assessment found that governments gain more by tackling climate change and air pollution together. Many of the same industries, fuels and pollutants drive both crises.

“For too long, we have treated climate action as a cost to be managed and air pollution as the unfortunate outcome of development,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “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.”

The report, Hidden assets: The economic and health case for climate and clean air action, was released on the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies.

Returns rival major areas of public spending

Annual benefits from the measures could equal 2.8% of global GDP in 2035. That figure rises to 4.5% in 2050 and 11.4% by 2100.

For context, explicit fossil fuel subsidies accounted for 2.18% of global GDP in 2022. Healthcare spending reached 9.3% in 2023.

Even after excluding non-market welfare gains, such as the value of longer and healthier lives, the package returns about $4 for every dollar invested.

Elliott Harris, independent co-chair of the assessment, said the findings should alter how finance ministries and investors assess clean-air policy.

“A benefit-cost ratio of 15 to 1 would attract capital instantly in almost any other sector,” he said. “Every year of delay costs the world more than $1.5 trillion in benefits we will not get back”

The financial case extends beyond avoided healthcare costs. Cleaner air can improve workforce productivity, reduce pressure on public budgets and lower exposure to climate-related economic disruption.

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Millions of deaths could be prevented

The human toll remains acute. Human-caused outdoor air pollution was associated with 6.4 million premature deaths in 2025. Household air pollution was linked to another two million deaths, including about 300,000 children.

Outdoor pollution also contributed to 5.5 million new childhood asthma cases and two million new dementia cases. Millions more developed heart disease, pulmonary illness, diabetes, stroke and lung cancer.

Full implementation could prevent 144 million air-pollution-related premature deaths by 2050. That includes 96 million deaths associated with ambient air pollution.

“The case for action has never been clearer,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Reducing air pollution protects health, boosts productivity, and builds more resilient and prosperous societies,” while “accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels is one of the fastest and most effective ways to clean the air while tackling the climate crisis.”

Six sectors hold the greatest potential

The measures cover energy, fossil fuel systems, industry, transport, agriculture, residential energy and waste management. They include stricter vehicle standards, low-sulfur shipping fuels, better manure management and more efficient fertilizer use.

Several would also cut methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons. These pollutants have particularly powerful near-term effects on global temperatures.

Immediate implementation could halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, compared with the report’s baseline. It could reduce methane by 60% and major air pollutants by about 70%.

The combined measures could avoid approximately 0.34°C of warming by 2050 and 1.4°C by 2100.

“When we modelled them together, the returns were larger than each could show alone,” said Simon Dietz, co-chair of the assessment and Professor of Environmental Policy at the London School of Economics.

Execution is now the central risk

Weak coordination remains a material barrier. Fragmented decision-making, limited enforcement capacity and institutional gaps could delay full implementation by almost eight years.

For executives and investors, the findings recast clean air as productive infrastructure rather than a compliance expense. Capital allocation, corporate transition plans and public policy will need to connect health, emissions and economic resilience.

Governments will also need stronger institutions and closer alignment between public and private finance. Without that integration, regions facing the heaviest pollution burden may lose both the largest economic gains and a critical opportunity to slow global warming.