Coal power isn’t just fueling climate change – it’s igniting a global health crisis.
As Southeast Asian nations struggle to shake off their dependence on fossil fuels, tiny but deadly fine particle air pollution from coal facilities continues to cut short millions of lives annually.
Fine particle air pollution, or PM2.5, refers to airborne microscopic particles produced primarily from the burning of fossil fuels.
Measuring at a fraction of the width of a human hair, these 2.5-micron particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream – potentially causing lung and heart diseases, among other fatal health problems. Coal-burning power plants are a major source of PM2.5 air pollution.
“[Even] those living in communities farther from coal plants are not exempt from its effects on air quality. These [facilities] impact both nearby and farther communities alike,” Kebumi project manager for health and environment advocacy Ricka Ayu Virga Ningrum told Eco-Business. “Chronic diseases from long-term exposure to coal plant emissions develop over time and cannot simply [be] healed overnight.”
Kebumi (Kesehatan Untuk Bumi) is a Jakarta-based coalition of healthcare professionals seeking climate justice and health equity in Indonesia.
A 2023 Harvard School of Public Health study found that air pollutants from coal-fired power plants are twice as deadly as those from other sources such as vehicle emissions and home wood burning. Disproportionately impacting low- and middle-income countries, global reliance on burning fossil fuels is responsible for at least three million air pollution deaths per year, according to research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Shutting down coal plants is one of the most critical ways we can ease the health burden of affected communities,” said Ningrum, adding that mortality rates related to air pollution tend to be lower in countries that have already begun to transition away from fossil fuels.
Southeast Asia has among the highest rates of premature death related to PM2.5 in the world, the State of Global Air Report 2024 found. In 2021, China led with 2.3 million deaths, followed by Indonesia (221,600), Myanmar (101,600), Vietnam (99,700) and the Philippines (98,200).
Coal phaseout
Weaning off coal has been known to lead to positive impacts on air quality. The retirement of a fleet of coal facilities and a significant rise in clean power generation in China likely contributed to an improvement in the country’s air quality in the first half of 2024, recently reported the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a nonprofit think tank.
China’s pollution from fine particulate matter dropped by 2.9 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment – as 1.1 gigawatts of the country’s coal capacity was taken offline during the same period. The first six months of 2024 also saw China’s power generation from solar and wind grow by 27.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively.
“The power sector [is] a major driver of China’s emissions growth,” said CREA analyst Chengcheng Qiu. “Decreasing thermal power generation… could significantly reduce associated air pollution while supporting progress towards the 1.5°C climate goal.”
Alarmingly, however, much of Southeast Asia isn’t expected to peak its coal reliance til as late as 2035.
Ninety-eight per cent of the world’s coal power capacity under development is concentrated in just 15 countries, with Southeast Asian nations Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam among them.
Analysis by CREA reported that the early retirement of just three coal power complexes in Indonesia’s Java region could directly avoid 6,928 air pollution-related deaths and save US$4.8 billion in annual economic losses from increased incidences of respiratory diseases and productivity declines. However, Indonesia still relies on coal-fired power for 61.8 per cent of its electricity generation.
Jakarta’s air pollution in 2023 reached its worst levels since 2019, as PM2.5 concentrations in the region remained in the ‘unhealthy’ range from June through to December 2023 – exceeding the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines by eight to 10 times.
“The [Indonesian] government and national stakeholders can no longer afford to ignore air pollution from coal power generation and its impacts on the population and economy,” said CREA’s Katherine Hasan.
Dr Fatimah Ahamad, chief scientist at Malaysia’s Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, noted that while regulating existing coal power plants is still critical, in the long run, the closure of these facilities would be far more beneficial.
“Coal power plant emissions are not limited to just ambient air pollutants. Coal combustion also releases toxic metals such as mercury into the air,” Ahamad told Eco-Business, noting that these heavy metals can seep into the soil and nearby water sources. “These metals form part of a dangerous cocktail of pollutants being released from coal power plants.”
“Coal plants are driving global warming and exacerbating climate-related health risks, such as heatwaves and [other] extreme weather events. Phasing out coal plants not only helps stabilise the global climate but also immediately improves air quality and public health, especially in vulnerable communities,” she concluded.
Global energy-related emissions grew by 1.1 per cent in 2023, with coal accounting for more than 65 per cent of the increase last year.
“Retiring coal plants [could bring] significant environmental benefits, [including] reducing harmful emissions like sulphur dioxide and particulate matter that degrade air quality and contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases,” added Kebumi’s Ningrum.
Air pollution costs the global economy US$8.1 trillion every year or 6.1 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product.
“Investing in clean air requires action by both government and businesses to phase out fossil fuels, strengthen air quality monitoring [and] boost renewable energy,” noted UN Secretary-General António Guterres last month during the fifth annual International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.
At least 92 per cent of Asia and the Pacific’s 4 billion people breathe air that is considered unsafe by the World Health Organization, according to the United Nations Environment Programme
