The cost of inaction: tackling air pollution in the ASEAN region

New work by IIASA under a 2021-2023 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) project aims to show that quantifying the cost of inaction on air pollution can help ASEAN countries build stronger investment cases for action and support the development of more integrated, science-based policy measures. Three initial assessments in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand found the cost of inaction for the health impacts of air pollution exposure was equivalent to between 1.6% and 2.1% of each country’s GDP by 2030. By directly quantifying the economic costs from not acting on air pollution, cost of inaction assessments can be used as an evidence base to further promote action. The cost of inaction refers to the negative consequences or losses that result from failing to act in a particular situation, in other words, it is the cost of doing nothing. In terms of air pollution, this could refer to the multiple impacts of air pollution (i.e., health, biodiversity, and climate change), as well as the other impacts from not implementing policies to reduce air pollution and not realizing the co-benefits that could come from implementing such measures.