Costs of air pollution

With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction works, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.

Though Bangladesh’s carbon emission rate is one of the lowest in the world it is definitely among the most polluted countries in terms of ambient (outdoor) air pollution. Time and again in various studies Bangladeshi cities particularly its capital, are ranked among the cities with least safe air quality in the world ranging from unhealthy to outright hazardous.

Dhaka seems to be holding a permanent place on the list of top ten cities with bad air quality round the year and often makes headlines for topping the chart. AQI value of the capital city, Dhaka, has crossed 400 on several occasions-and these records underscore the dire situation we are in.

Exposure to high levels of air pollution can cause a variety of adverse health outcomes. According to the WHO: “It increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer.” The WHO estimates that ambient air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths per year worldwide. However in addition to the adverse health impacts air pollution also has an economic aspect. The costs associated with pollution are both direct as well as indirect, and include health and social costs, environmental costs, economic costs incurred by households as well as firms, and fiscal costs. To address the issue of pollution (as well as carbon emission), a range of policy instruments are available and in use around the world. 

Bangladesh incurred economic losses worth around 4.4 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 due to air pollution, according to a World Bank (WB) estimate. “The annual cost of the health effects caused by air pollution was between $11.5 billion and $13 billion in 2019, equivalent to 3.9 per cent to 4.4 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP that year. A third of the estimated deaths caused by exposure to ambient PM2.5 were in the Dhaka division, the most polluted part of the country,” said a WB report.

High levels of ambient air pollution impose significant costs on society and the economy. According to estimates for the world as a whole, the cost associated with health damage from ambient air pollution is around $5.7 trillion, equivalent to over 5pc of global GDP. According to the findings of another study, “In individual countries, the economic burden of pollution associated with premature mortality and morbidity is also significant, equivalent to 5 to 14pc of countries’ GDPs”.

There is not an iota of doubt that Bangladesh has a serious pollution problem. As the air quality is at hazardous levels, and a more robust policy response is needed.

There are certain pressure groups always trying to influence the regulatory bodies and get away with the crimes of polluting beyond the level set by the environment department. That is why we still see unfit vehicles on the road, or illegal and unregulated brick kilns operating at full capacity across the country. The other instrument to curb air pollution is economic incentives through various fiscal measures, such as emission tax and liability payment for pollution. This approach makes the polluting entities pay for their actions. Interest subsidies on loans for purchasing emission treatment plants are also a market incentive for pollution control. The government earning from emission taxes can be used for the social protection of the poor and other social development activities. Here, the implementation-related problems arise again.

With rapid urbanisation as well as motorisation, its poor air quality is deteriorating further, posing very significant health risks for its population as well as its economic trajectory. Concerted policy action is needed on a wide front to deal with the challenge.