Air pollution yearly economic cost: $1.4 billion

The annual cost of air pollution in Lebanon is $1.4 billion, representing two percent of the GDP, according to ‘Toxic air: The price of fossil fuels’ report recently released by Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization.

The report shows the cost of air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

“The estimated cost of fossil fuel-related air pollution as a percentage of GDP in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is greatest in Egypt, Lebanon, Bahrain and the UAE,” it said.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates bear the highest costs from air pollution in the MENA region at an estimated $6.9 billion, $6 billion and $5.9 billion per year, respectively. China Mainland, United States and India bear the highest costs from air pollution worldwide, at an estimated $900 billion, $600 billion and $150 billion per year, respectively.

The report also featured health burdens resulting from fossil fuel air pollution.

Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria recorded the highest estimated premature death rates (deaths occurring before the age of 75) due to air pollution from fossil fuels in the MENA region. The estimated premature death rate per 1,000 people in Lebanon is 0.39. The estimated number of premature deaths in Lebanon was 2,700 in 2018.

The annual number of premature deaths resulting from this kind of pollution was around 65,000 in the MENA region in 2018. Egypt topped the list with 32,000 premature deaths.

The essential step towards preventing catastrophic climate change and protecting people’s health is transforming the energy generation sector from fossil fuels to renewables, according to Greenpeace.