According to a new report, due to high exposure to hazardous air quality, over 5 lakh people died prematurely in 2016 in India and 97,000 out of them lost their lives due to coal burning.
'The prevailing conditions suggest that the situation would only worsen as climate change and the effect of air pollution would intensify if the country does not shift from coal-based energy', The Lancet Countdown 2019 on health and Climate Change cautioned.
‘Between 2016 to 2018, the total energy supply increased by 11% leading to premature deaths. Emissions from fossil carbon-dioxide need to be cut by 7.4% year to year from 2019 to 2050, so as to achieve the goal of limiting global warming by 1.5 degree Celcius. This would also help in reducing morbidity and mortality from air pollution’, reveals the report.
This issue needs to be addressed seriously as coal-burning releases particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, responsible for damaging the health of many people.
The report also drew attention towards heatwaves affecting the labour capacity of many major countries. As per the data available, in 2018, 133.6 billion potential work hours were lost all across the globe while southern areas of the USA lost 15-20% of potential daylight work hours when the country was battling the hottest month of 2018.
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