Governance

Air pollution is the single greatest environmental cause of preventable disease and premature death in the world today. It ranks alongside unhealthy diets, inadequate physical activity, and tobacco smoking, as a major global risk factor for mortality. Globally, air pollution is responsible for approximately 7 million premature deaths each year. In Australia annual mortality is conservatively estimated to be more than 3,200 with a cost greater than AUD $6.2 billion from years of life lost. However, the full health and social impacts are much more extensive. This report explains why the effects of air pollution are so far reaching and, equally, why coordinated action to make air safer is one of the best investments in Australian health.

The Centre for Safe Air and Asthma Australia welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to the inquiry into the transition to electric vehicles by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (the Committee). Our joint submission addresses the Terms of Reference (TOR) most relevant to our shared interest in improving population health outcomes associated with airborne hazards. We note that the TOR did not explicitly include the health or wellbeing impacts of transitioning away from internal combustion engine vehicles. We urge the Committee to actively seek input from health stakeholders to ensure the full range of impacts, including benefits to health and wellbeing, are considered in the Committee’s inquiry and report.

The Centre for Safe Air advocates for a stringent FES emissions reduction strategy to confer the greatest health benefits for Australians. The Consultation Impact Analysis found that the health benefits of cleaner air associated with Option C ($6.75 billion) are nearly 20% greater than Option B ($5.53 billion). Even subtracting the predicted costs, Option C provides the greatest aggregate benefit to Australians: $18.44 billion more than Option B.

COVID-19, like other respiratory viral infections, is primarily transmitted in small airborne particles that carry the virus and are emitted during all human activities related to respiration (1). Particles are emitted during speech, coughing, sneezing, exercise or also quiet breathing. The particles are small enough to remain airborne for prolonged periods, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments, and be transmitted long distances. Hence, the presence of one or more people with COVID-19 in an indoor environment places all persons who share the air in that indoor space at risk of infection. Airborne transmission is the main mechanism of transmission of COVID-19, including ‘super spreader’ events (1,2). Despite confusing and sometimes misleading public health messages (3), preventive measures to mitigate the airborne transmission of COVID-19 became an important and effective part of the public health response to COVID. These measures included mask mandates, restrictions on indoor gathering, requirements for enhanced ventilation for indoor settings, and air filtration in health care facilities, schools, aged care facilities and other high risk indoor environments. However, these were essentially emergency measures. The most effective interventions to reduce the severity and cost of future pandemics involve continuously improving indoor air quality (IAQ) for all Australians, with co-benefits for reducing the health and economic burden of indoor air pollution more generally.