A new World Health Organization (WHO) report highlights the links between air pollution and the epidemic of non-communicable diseases (also called NCDs) that is affecting people worldwide.

The purpose of this analytical white paper is to identify effects of health concerns for air pollution on government and public actions in India, identify barriers and opportunities; and propose recommendations on how to use heath concerns to build support for air pollution control and prevention.

Uses of main primary energy resources, such as coal, oil, and solid biomass, are directly linked with adverse impacts on human health. Air pollution emitted from various activities in the energy supply chains is the main risk factor to human health, along with accidental and occupational risk exposures.

Despite comprising over 300 million inhabitants and representing 4.9% of the world’s GDP, 17 UNECE countries in South and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia had only 0.2% or USD 0.4 billion of global renewable energy investment in 2015.

The paper discusses challenges in analyzing the costs of household cooking methods (fuels and associated stove technologies) in lower-income countries, and sources of divergence between observed and true social costs.