Air Pollution, Clean Energy and Climate Change

Anthropogenic climate change is a globally recognized threat multiplier. Yet, decades of intergovernmental negotiations have failed to curb toxic levels of fossil fuel energy-related air pollution which the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified as the world's largest, single environmental health risk. Lying in plain view are the troubling truths about the morbidity and ill-health burdens associated with anthropogenic climate change that are borne by those who have done the least to contribute to per capita emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. Ignoring the nexus between air pollution, lack of access to clean energy and climate adversities represents a collective failure of the UN's ambitious, universally agreed upon 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA) which pledged 'to leave no one behind'.

This book highlights the air pollution crisis that emanates from the heavy reliance on polluting forms of energy and the urbanization of poverty in developing countries. It provides a framework for understanding why the broader sustainable development community needs to address the more neglected intersection between adverse climatic impacts and energy-related air pollution which devastates the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us, especially young children, women and the elderly.

It focuses on the importance of breaking down persistent global silos and goals on sustainable energy for all, and climate change reflected in the UN's 2030 SDA, and the 2015 Paris Agreement. Integrating clean air and climate mitigation measures that specifically include curbing short lived climate pollutants such as black carbon via innovative partnerships/modalities are seen as vital to clean energy and climate responsive action. This book argues that linked actions by non-nation state actors aimed at reducing air pollution and ameliorating short term climate pollutants in the most populous cities, particularly in countries like India where annual average particulate matter pollution levels consistently exceed WHO guidelines are essential in reducing grave health costs and disease burdens.

Air Pollution, Clean Energy and Climate Change will be of particular interest to policy makers, researchers, environmental advocates, civil society stakeholders and practitioners who want to understand the urgency of addressing linkages between climate change, fossil fuel energy, air pollution and public health risks.

The cover image is an oil painting by Anilla Cherian, which incorporates tree bark and twigs, and serves as a reminder of the daily energy sources used by millions who lack access to clean energy and are exposed to high levels of household air pollution. It is the second-part of a series, with the first one serving as the cover image to Energy and Global Climate Change (Cherian, 2015). Photograph of painting by Alison Sheehy Photography.

About the Author

Dr Anilla Cherian is an independent global climate change and clean energy expert who has worked with a range of global institutions including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). She is the author of Energy and Global Climate Change: Bridging the Sustainable Development Divide (Wiley Blackwell: 2015). She has prepared technical reports, provided strategic advice, and published papers on a wide range of topics including global climate change, clean energy access and poverty reduction, financing for development, water and sanitation, and the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity resources. She is an opinion editorialist on climate, clean energy and air pollution related issues for Indian newspapers and global journals. Dr Cherian has also worked as Adjunct Professor at Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has received fellowships/grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute for the Study of World Politics.