“The health impacts of air pollution are often underrated. There are a range of estimates for how many people die prematurely from local air pollution every year. All are in the low millions. The World Health Organization estimates around 7 million.
The good news, then, is that the world is probably passed ‘peak pollution’. I say ‘probably’ because confidently declaring a peak is, apparently, the best way to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Here, I’m talking specifically about emissions of harmful local air pollutants: gases like nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide which causes acid rain, carbon monoxide, black carbon, organic carbon, non-methane volatile organic compounds. I’m not talking about greenhouse gases.”