IEA Special Report on Energy and Air Pollution

World Energy Outlook 2016 Special Report on Energy and Air Pollution

Energy-related air pollution leads to millions of premature deaths and costs the global economy trillions of dollars each year. As the world’s population grows and demand for energy services swells, the already high costs of air pollution are at risk of increasing dramatically. This groundbreaking special report launched ahead of the full World Energy Outlook 2016 provides new analysis to help decision makers evaluate different policy paths and to provide clear recommendations for future action.

• Around 6.5 million premature deaths each year can be attributed to air pollution

• Energy production and use are by far the largest man-made sources of air pollutants
• Technologies to tackle air pollution are well known.

Clean air is an imperative for good health, but despite growing attention to this issue the problem is far from solved, and the health impacts risk getting worse in the decades to come.

The scale of this public health crisis and the importance of the energy sector to its resolution explain why this IEA special report, the latest in the World Energy Outlook series, is devoted to the links between energy and air pollution.

Based on new data for pollutant emissions in 2015, it provides a global outlook as well as detailed profiles for key countries and regions: the United States, Mexico, the European Union, China, India, Southeast Asia and Africa.

In a Clean Air Scenario, it proposes a pragmatic strategy to reconcile the world’s energy requirements with its need for cleaner air. Alongside the multiple benefits to human health, this strategy demonstrates that resolving the world’s air pollution problem can go hand-in-hand with progress towards other environmental and development goals.