How Cleaner Air Could Prevent the Next Virus Pandemic

Pollution highly increases the odds of future pandemics, so health leaders across the world are working on a green recovery plan in a call for stimulus packages that reduce air and water pollution and lower carbon emissions.

“Over 90 percent of people breathe outdoor air with pollution levels exceeding WHO air quality guideline values,” says the World Health Organization, who stresses that lowering our environmental impact can help prevent disease outbreaks. “A rapid global transition to clean energy would not only meet the Paris climate agreement goal of keeping warming below 2C, but would also improve air quality to such an extent that the resulting health gains would repay the cost of the investment twice over.”

A total of more than 350 global health organizations representing doctors and scientists have signed a petition urging the leaders of the government-run organization G20 – which aims for worldwide economic cooperation – to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with an immediate “healthy recovery” plan addressing pollution and other environmental issues that contribute to the increased likelihood of facing another global outbreak in the future.