Making Clean Air Your Business

The document argues that air pollution is the single greatest environmental risk to human health, causing 7 million premature deaths annually and costing the global economy $5.11 trillion in welfare losses. It urges businesses to integrate air quality into their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies, noting that reducing air pollution can improve employee productivity, attract talent, and increase shareholder value. The guide identifies five main human-caused sources of pollution—power generation, transport, industry, agriculture, and waste—and provides examples of corporate solutions, such as Maersk's use of biofuels and Microsoft's commitment to be diesel-free by 2030.

• Air pollution is identified as the most significant environmental threat to human health, with 99% of the global population breathing air that exceeds international limits and 7 million premature deaths occurring annually.
• The economic impact of air pollution is severe, resulting in $5.11 trillion in annual welfare losses (over 4% of global GDP) and a projected loss of 3.8 billion workdays by 2060.
• Air pollution has profound effects on human health beyond mortality, including contributing to 500,000 infant deaths in their first month, increasing the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and reducing average life expectancy by 1.8 years.
• Environmental and climate consequences include a reduction in crop yields by 50% in hard-hit regions and the disruption of ecosystems through acidification caused by nitrogen and sulphur oxides.
• Addressing air pollution can mitigate global warming; reducing short-lived climate pollutants could avoid 0.6°C of warming by 2050 and slow Arctic warming by two-thirds.
• The private sector can derive value from clean air initiatives through improved ESG propositions, increased brand value as 85% of consumers become 'greener', and higher productivity, with better office ventilation potentially increasing productivity by 8-11%.
• Human-driven air pollution stems from five primary sources: power generation (fossil fuels), transport (petrol and diesel), industry (chemicals, mining, and construction dust), agriculture (livestock methane, rice paddies, and waste burning), and waste (open burning of 40% of global waste).

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). Making Clean Air Your Business. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Making_Clean_Air_Your_Business_2022.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Making Clean Air Your Business. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Making_Clean_Air_Your_Business_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Making Clean Air Your Business |date=October 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Making_Clean_Air_Your_Business_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022making, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Making Clean Air Your Business}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Making_Clean_Air_Your_Business_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }