WITH GOOD LIFE COMES AIR POLLUTION
OF the seven million people in the world who die prematurely of air pollution every year, four million are in Asia. That is a sobering statistic.
Air pollution is the main environmental cause of disease. Given the scale of its impact, it is a fitting and timely theme of the United Nations’ World Environment Day this year.
Governments in Asia have been trying to address this challenge as their economies grew over the last few decades, leading to increased urbanisation and rising energy demand.
For example, Malaysia is encouraging commercial and industrial buildings to use solar energy by offering them tax incentives and the opportunity to sell the solar-generated electricity under the Net Energy Metering scheme.
But overall, Asia’s air pollution has not improved.
Next year, it could get worse because the region’s economies are projected to be larger than the rest of the world combined.
Asia can mitigate this by speeding up its transition to renewables, complemented with natural gas and curbing its reliance on coal, which emits air pollutants, like sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.
It will be a massive task that will depend not only on policymakers but also on businesses, environmental and city experts, as well as many individuals on the ground, working together.
One example is the Smart Cities Network.
Set up last year by Asean, it will help 26 pilot cities address societal and environmental challenges.
Asean will need to move quickly.
Some 90 million people are expected to move into its cities by 2030 and it has set a target of 23 per cent renewables in its primary energy mix by 2025, a 250 per cent increase from 2014.
Gas renewables, however, solve only part of the problem because they chiefly produce electricity, which makes up 20 per cent of the world’s final energy use.
Industries like cement, steel, plastics, trucking, shipping and aviation, which cannot be easily electrified yet, require hydrocarbons.
This is where natural gas, which produces less than onetenth the air pollutants than coal when burnt for electricity, can play a part.
The good news is many countries in Asia are recognising this. While China consumes half the world’s coal, Beijing has experienced the benefits of switching to gas for heating.
Last year, worldwide demand for gas grew at its fastest rate since 2010, and natural gas made up nearly 45 per cent of the rise in total energy demand, the highest among all fuel types.
But this was not enough to offset demand for coal, especially in Asia, home to half the world’s population and growing.
Every year, Asian cities attract 44 million new inhabitants, all searching for a better way of life.
With this prosperity comes new luxuries: new homes, cars and appliances. These are the products of the good life that Asia deserves. But this prosperity will be short-lived if its people do not enjoy good health.
Clean air, after all, is not a luxury. It is a necessity.