Air pollution contributes to climate change and climate change, in turn, worsens air quality.
Air pollution is the silent killer that doesn’t get enough headlines. It doesn’t shock us like images of floods, wildfires or hurricanes, but it kills around 500 times more people a year than all of those disasters combined--in most years. In January 2024, the World Health Organization estimated that air pollution kills 7 million people every year.
Many of the sources of outdoor air pollution are also sources of high CO2 emissions. For example, the use of fossil fuels for power generation, industry and polluting transport are all major sources of both particulate matter and CO2.
Air pollutants, such as methane and black carbon, are powerful short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) that contribute to climate change and ill health. Although SLCPs persist in the atmosphere for short lifetimes, their global warming potential is often much greater than carbon dioxide (CO2).
Black carbon, a component of fine particulate matter, is one of the largest contributors to global warming after CO2. Black carbon warms the earth’s atmosphere by absorbing sunlight, thereby accelerating the melting of snow and ice.
Methane, another SLCP, is a potent greenhouse gas that is 84 times more powerful than CO2, and is a precursor to the air pollutant ozone. Ozone and black carbon affect weather processes and decrease agricultural yields, thus threatening food security.
From the air we breathe, pollutants like particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can cause severe health problems, such as respiratory Issues, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurological issues, and reproductive issues. The most vulnerable populations are children, older adults, those with preexisting conditions, and low-income communities. In 2022 the World Bank published a report estimating that the cost of the health damage caused by air pollution amounted to $8.1 trillion a year, equivalent to 6.1% of global GDP.
Pollutants not only severely impact public health, but also the earth’s climate and ecosystems globally. Most policies to reduce air pollution offer a “win-win” strategy for both health and climate. Lower levels of air pollution result in better cardiovascular and respiratory health of populations in both the long- and short-term. Reducing ambient and household air pollution can also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon particles and methane, therefore contributing to the near- and long-term mitigation of climate change.
Increasing 
