Clean Air — Our Fundamental Right

Observed annually on September 7, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is far more than a symbolic date on the calendar – for Pakistan and the rest of the world. The day serves as a vital global reminder that clean air is not a luxury but a fundamental human right. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2019, this day underscores that air pollution is a global problem with immense local consequences. For Pakistan, ranked among the world’s most polluted nations, this day carries an urgency that transcends global symbolism as it underscores a public health and economic emergency that demands immediate and decisive action.

Globally, the argument for clean air has never been so stronger or more economically compelling. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition released a landmark report “Hidden Assets: The Economic and Health Case for Climate and Clean Air Action” on this year’s clean air day showing that every US$1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together can generate approximately US$15 in economic benefits. This return accounts for savings in healthcare, increased labor productivity, and the immense value of healthier lives. “For too long, we have treated climate action as a cost to be managed and air pollution as the unfortunate outcome of development. This report shows the opposite: clean air is a key driver of development, health, food and energy security, and climate stability – an asset we must invest in,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

The new UNEP report “paints the most comprehensive economic picture yet of what stands to be gained by tackling the two together. By examining a broader range of air pollution’s health impacts, which have traditionally been undervalued, as well as the benefits foregone when action is delayed, the assessment finds that integrated climate and clean air action is one of the highest-return investments available to governments today.”

However, the cost of inaction in this regard is equally staggering. According to a UNEP report, “in 2025, human-caused outdoor fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone caused an estimated 6.4 million premature deaths. Household air pollution caused another 2 million deaths, including nearly 300,000 children. PM2.5 exposure is meanwhile linked with an estimated 5.5 million new cases of childhood asthma, 4.2 million heart attacks, 3.8. million cases of COPD, 3.3 million cases of diabetes, 2.5 million strokes and 2 million cases of dementia every year. That amounts to roughly one in five new cases of each of these conditions worldwide.”

A report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) “A Breath of Fresh Air: Responding to the Health Challenges of Modern Air Pollution,” published in 2025, says, “Globally, outdoor and indoor air pollution combined were associated with 8.1 million preventable deaths in 2021, with the vast majority attributable to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, respiratory illnesses, stroke, cancer and diabetes.” The RCP report underlines that “the harm caused by air pollution is not limited to the lungs. Research links long-term exposure to conditions affecting almost every organ system, including the heart, brain, kidneys and liver. Evidence also points to impacts on brain health and dementia risk, childhood development, and even fertility.”

The UNEP report demonstrates that by implementing 25 proven measures across six sectors – from renewable energy and clean cooking to sustainable transport and waste management – we could halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and prevent 144 million premature deaths from air pollution-related diseases. According the UNEP, “every region would reap economic benefits that substantially outweigh the costs of implementing the solutions, but the benefit-cost ratios vary widely: 26:1 in Southern Africa, 21:1 in South Asia and 3:1 in Europe.”

For Pakistan, the message of the clean air day is not an abstraction but a stark reality. Air pollution here is not merely a seasonal smog problem but a year-round public health and economic emergency. Pakistan faces some of the world’s most severe air pollution, particularly in its populous Punjab province. The World Bank’s Pakistan Country Climate and Development Report estimates that air pollution costs the country economic losses equivalent to 6.5 percent of its GDP each year, a figure that underscores the financial devastation of inaction.

The health impact of air pollution in Pakistan is devastating. A policy review by Fair Finance Pakistan and the University of California’s Davis Air Quality Research Centre highlighted that in Punjab, average annual PM2.5 exposure – the dangerous fine particles that penetrate deep into the lungs – is more than 10 times the WHO guideline. The crisis is deeply unequal, with women, girls, young children, and low-income communities facing the highest exposure and having the fewest resources to protect themselves. Approximately 43.6 million people, nearly a fifth of Pakistan’s population, live within 50 kilometers of fossil-fuel power plants, bearing the brunt of the pollution.

Pakistan has taken important steps forward with its policy architecture and moved from policy adoption to the harder test of delivery. The National Clean Air Policy (2023) and the Punjab Clean Air Policy (2023) set ambitious targets, including a 38 percent reduction in PM2.5 emissions by 2030 and an 81 percent reduction by 2040. The government is also planning to establish a national clean air secretariat to coordinate implementation between federal and provincial governments, recognizing that pollution does not respect borders. A World Bank-backed $300 million clean-air program has also been launched in Punjab to reduce emissions around Lahore. The Punjab Government has demonstrated tangible progress by launching a new real-time Air Quality Dashboard. The platform combines data from 59 state-of-the-art monitoring stations, satellites, and weather forecasts.

Despite this policy progress, the decisive question remains whether Pakistan can transform ambition into measurable, financed implementation. The policy review by Fair Finance Pakistan and Davis Air Quality Research Centre identified nine structural gaps in the national framework and five in Punjab’s framework. Among them, major challenges are establishing a nationally consistent, quality-assured ambient PM2.5 baseline that captures population exposure across provinces and cities; delivery architecture for achieving the NCAP’s ambitious targets of 38 percent PM2.5 reduction by 2030 and 81 percent by 2040; developing cooperative approaches at multiple levels; and shifting of financing from project-level compliance to portfolio-level accountability.

The government has the greatest responsibility for creating conditions in which people can breathe cleaner air. Effective action requires reliable monitoring, clear standards, enforcement and long-term investment. UNEP emphasizes the importance of air-quality monitoring, emission inventories and policies that reduce pollution at its sources. In Pakistan, priorities should include expanding and improving air-quality monitoring networks; making air-quality information accessible to the public; strengthening enforcement of emission standards; improving public transport and traffic management; supporting cleaner industrial technologies; and preventing open burning of waste.

The International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies makes one thing clear: clean air is not a luxury; it is a primary indicator of human survival and dignity. For the world, it represents one of the highest-return investments available. For Pakistan, it demands a shift from policy ambition to financed, measurable implementation to protect its people and its future prosperity. The solutions are proven and available; the challenge now is the will to deliver them.