Global News

The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago published its 2023 update on the Air Quality Life Index, which converts air pollution concentrations into their impact on life expectancy to aid the public and policymakers in understanding policy questions from a new perspective. The AQLI’s latest 2021 data reveals that permanently reducing global PM2.5 air pollution to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline would add 2.3 years onto average human life expectancy—or a combined 17.8 billion life years saved. The impact of PM2.5 on global life expectancy is comparable to that of smoking, more than 3 times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, more than 5 times that of transport injuries like car crashes, and more than 7 times that of HIV/AIDS.

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