How Delhi's air quality can improve 20% by 2040

How Delhi's air quality can improve 20% by 2040
08 Sep 2026

A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) has revealed that Delhi could reduce its PM2.5 exposure burden by 20% by 2040.

The reduction is possible if the city meets national air quality standards on time, starting from 2026.

The report highlights that an eight-year delay in achieving these standards would only result in a 10% reduction, leading to significantly higher health impacts over time.

What did the report say?
Proposed solutions

The report, titled 'Hidden Assets: The Economic and Health Case for Climate and Clean Air Action,' is the first global economic assessment of integrated climate and clean-air action.

It identifies 25 solutions to address both issues at once.

These include already available measures such as renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, scaling up clean cooking/heating technologies, and stricter vehicle emission/efficiency standards.

Economic benefits of implementing measures
Financial impact

The report estimates that the annual economic benefits of implementing these measures would equal 2.8% of global GDP by 2035, 4.5% by 2050, and a whopping 11.4% by the year 2100.

It also warns that every year of delay in implementing these solutions costs more than 0.5% of global GDP in benefits, over $1.5 trillion in combined market and non-market value, due to institutional barriers being the biggest contributor to this delay.

Delays and barriers
Reasons

The report emphasizes that strengthening enabling conditions, economic, social, technological, and institutional, can bring all 25 solutions into full implementation up to a decade earlier.

This would significantly enhance reductions in PM2.5 and ozone precursors during the 2025-2050 period.

However, it notes that global average implementation delays of 7.5 to 8 years are expected, with institutional barriers accounting for about 2.4 years over an assumed 15-year implementation period.