By: John Vidal September 08, 2016 Sector News
Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Smoke billows from industrial chimney stacks in Shanxi province, northern China. The country lost nearly 10% of its GDP to air pollution in 2013.
Air pollution costs the world trillions of dollars a year and severely impedes development in many countries, according to the World Bank.
In a major study (pdf) of the economic costs of indoor and outdoor pollution, the bank found that in 2013 – the year from which the latest available estimates date – China lost nearly 10% of its GDP, India 7.69% and Sri Lanka and Cambodia roughly 8%.
Rich countries are also losing tens of billions of dollars a year through lost work days and welfare costs from premature deaths. Dirty air was found to cost the UK $7.6bn (£5.6bn) a year, the US $45bn and Germany $18bn.
To read the full article by The Guardian click here
Source: from website of the Global Alliance of Clean Cookstoves)