Bengaluru: The deaths of more than 17.18 lakh Indians in 2022 can be linked to air pollution, according to the latest report by Lancet. Published on October 29, the ninth edition of the ‘Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change’ – prepared in collaboration with the World Health Organization – also noted that Indians had experienced record-high hours of exposure to heatwaves in 2024.Scientists associated with the report noted that India had an “opportunity” to improve several aspects – such as cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing its dependence on coal and other fossil fuels and creating cleaner air – by opting for a quicker transition to clean energy.In the past, however, the Union government has repeatedly insisted that there is no data to show that air pollution causes deaths. The Lancet reportThe Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change assesses links between climate change and health annually. The report studies links between health and climate change through 58 peer-reviewed indicators across different categories (such as health hazards, exposures and impacts; economics and finance, and so on). Specific indicators this year included exposure to heatwaves (a new indicator), sleep, labour capacity, drought, extreme rain and food security.Around 128 scientists from 71 academic institutions and UN global agencies worked to produce the ninth edition of the report which they published on October 29. This latest report includes new metrics which record deaths from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, the coverage of urban blue spaces (rivers, lakes, and coastlines) and more.Per the latest report, 13 out of 20 indicators tracking health threats alone had reached “unprecedented levels”. Here are some of the record-breaking changes that some of these indicators, including impacts that caused health threats (such as heatwaves), showed:IndicatorImpactsHeatwavesThe most vulnerable age groups – those under 1 and those above 65 years – experienced a record high number of heatwave days in 2024, with 389% and 304% more heatwave days per person, respectively, from the 1986-2005 average. SleepTotal sleep time lost due to high night-time temperatures increased by 6% in 2020–24 relative to the 1986–2005 baseline, reaching a record 9% increase in 2024.Labour capacityA record-high 640 billion potential work hours were lost in 2024, a 98% increase compared to the 1990–99 annual average.DroughtA record-breaking 61% of the global land area was affected by extreme drought in 2024, which is 299% above the 1950s average, further threatening food and water security, sanitation, and causing downstream economic lossesExtreme rain eventsIn 2015–24, a record 64% of global land area saw increases in extreme precipitation events from 1961–90, and in 2024 the average annual number of >99th-percentile events per 79 km² reached a record high of five.Food securityThe higher number of heatwave days and drought months in 2023, compared to 1981–2010, was associated with 123·7 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.Table: Some of the record-breaking impacts on health, caused by climate change and its related impacts. Source: Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, 2025Per the report, heat-related deaths have surged by 23% across the world since the 1990s, to 5,46,000 a year – all due to the failure in curbing the warming caused by climate change. In 2024 alone, air pollution from wildfire smoke was linked to a record 1,54,000 deaths, while the global average transmission potential of dengue has risen by up to 49% since the 1950s. Around 2.5 million deaths every year are attributable to the air pollution that comes from continued burning of fossil fuels, the report noted. In 2022, per the report, the monetised value of air pollution-related mortality was USD 4.84 trillion, equivalent to 4.7% of the global GDP.“The 2025 report of the Lancet Countdown exposes a world in turmoil,” the report noted. “Climate change threats to human health and survival continue breaking concerning records, while delayed – and oftentimes reversed – actions exacerbate the threats on health and survival.”On the other hand, an estimated 1,60,000 lives are being saved every year as countries shift away from coal, the study noted. “This year’s health stocktake paints a bleak and undeniable picture of the devastating health harms reaching all corners of the world – with record-breaking threats to health from heat, extreme weather events, and wildfire smoke killing millions. The destruction to lives and livelihoods will continue to escalate until we end our fossil fuel addiction and dramatically up our game to adapt,” warned Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London, in a press statement.She added, “We already have the solutions at hand to avoid a climate catastrophe – and communities and local governments around the world are proving that progress is possible. From clean energy growth to city adaptation, action is underway and delivering real health benefits – but we must keep up the momentum. Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels remains the most powerful lever to slow climate change and protect lives. At the same time, shifting to healthier, climate-friendly diets and more sustainable agricultural systems would massively cut pollution, greenhouse gases and deforestation, potentially saving over ten million lives a year.” India: Air pollution deaths, heat, shrinking forestsSeparate country-wise factsheets as part of the report provided India-specific numbers.Per the report, the deaths of more than 17,18,000 Indians were attributable to anthropogenic air pollution (specifically fine particulate matter, a major pollutant) in 2022 in India. This is an increase of 38% since 2010, the report noted. Fossil fuels (coal and liquid gas) contributed to 7,52,000 (44%) of these deaths in 2022, while coal alone accounted for 3,94,000 deaths, predominantly due to its use in power plants (the latter caused 2,98,000 deaths). The use of petrol for road transportation contributed to 2,69,000 deaths. In 2022, the monetised value of premature mortality due to outdoor air pollution in India amounted to USD 339.4 billion (or around INR 30 trillion), the equivalent of 9.5% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).As of 2022, India is also still struggling with household air pollution. Per the report, the use of polluting fuels in the country was associated with 113 deaths per every 1,00,000 deaths. Mortality rates associated with household air pollution were higher in rural than urban areas (125 per 1,00,000 in rural versus 99 per 100,000 in urban areas).Heatwave data for the year 2024 showed that Indians were exposed to 19.8 heatwave days each, on average. Of these, 6.6 days of exposure would not have been expected to occur without climate change. Compared to 1990-1999, Indians in 2024 were exposed on average to 366 more hours during which heat would have posed a moderate or higher risk of heat stress (if undertaking moderate outdoor physical activity), the report noted.This is a record high. Heat exposure in 2024 resulted in a loss of 247 billion potential labour hours per year, another record-high 419 hours per person – which is 124% more than in 1990-1999. Per the report, the agriculture sector accounted for 66% of these losses, and the construction sector accounted for 20%. The associated potential income lost from labour capacity reduction due to extreme heat in India was USD 194 billion in 2024 alone.The report’s indicators linked to agriculture and health also found that between 2001 and 2023, India lost a cumulative total of 2.33 million hectares of tree cover, of which 1,43,000 were lost only in 2023. The main reason? Forestry.“We do have data on really high levels of air pollution related deaths in India,” said Romanello, lead author of the report, at a virtual press conference on October 23. “However, the focus on energy access in India is enormously encouraging.”“We’re hoping that in countries like India, there can be a much more rapid progress to cleaner fuels as this would not only avoid an increase in greenhouse gas emissions but also allow cheap local energy access, independence from fossil fuels and very volatile fossil fuel markets,” she said. “The opportunity is there [in India],” she added.Government denials despite evidenceThe Wire has written to the Union environment ministry to get its response to the finding that the deaths of more than 17.18 lakh Indians in 2022 were linked to air pollution. The story will be updated when a response is received.Despite growing evidence, the Union government has repeatedly insisted that there is no data to show that air pollution causes deaths.In July 2024, the Union environment ministry claimed in a press release that there was “no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively with air pollution.” Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases, and health is impacted by a number of factors including food habits of the individuals apart from the environment, the government said.A year later, they repeated the same paragraph, almost verbatim:“There is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively by air pollution. Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity etc. of the individuals apart from the environment.”This was part of a written reply by the Union environment ministry to the Rajya Sabha in July this year, in response to the findings in the World Air Quality Report for 2024 published by Swiss-based technology company IQAir in March 2025. The report said that India was the world’s fifth-most polluted country when it came to fine particulate matter, a major air pollutant. Of the 100 most polluted cities in the world in 2024, 74 were Indian cities. India was also home to the world’s most polluted city (Byrnihat in Meghalaya, with a fine particulate matter concentration of 128.2 µg/m³, more than 25 times the WHO guideline limit).Interestingly, even government agencies have linked deaths in India to air pollution. A study published in 2020 in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health – also backed by the government-run Indian Council for Medical Research – had noted that 17.18 lakh deaths (18% of total deaths) in India in the year 2019 could be attributed to air pollution. It also found that economic loss due to the lost output from premature deaths and diseases caused by air pollution was 1.4% of the GDP in India during the time – which was equivalent to Rs. 2,60,000 crore (USD 36.8 billion). In response, V.K. Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, had then said that “the scientific paper presents the latest evidence on air pollution in India, translating health loss to economic impact”, per a report in The Hindu.The ‘Health Advisory on Air Pollution’ released in October 2023 by the Directorate General of Health Services under the Union health ministry also quotes this study.More recently, a study in 2024 looked at the links between India’s deaths and air pollution. It found that approximately 33,000 deaths per year can be attributed to air pollution levels that are above the WHO guidelines, across 10 cities in the country (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla and Varanasi). Another study, also published in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2024, estimated that 1.5 million deaths occurred annually in India due to long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, when levels of this pollutant rose in excess of the 5 μg/m3 limit that is recommended by the WHO ambient air quality guidelines.According to a report in The Telegraph, a senior Union environment ministry official, when asked about the report’s air-pollution related death figures for the country, “forwarded a recent Union environment ministry post on X that rebutted a social media claim of around 2 million deaths linked to air pollution in the country”.