Half of the people killed globally by fine particulate pollution died because of fossil fuel consumption by the world’s 20 richest nations, a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications found. Two million of the 4 million premature deaths from particle pollution each year are tied to goods sent to and consumed by G20 countries, meaning that the consumption of 28 G20 residents is responsible for each premature death. “Most of the people [are] now getting to understand, okay, a lot of consumption [produces] greenhouse gas,” Keisuke Nansai, lead author of the study and researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan, told the Washington Post. “This paper says, okay, a lot of consumption also leads to 4 million deaths in the world due to [particulate air pollution]. But the G-20 has 2 million deaths’ responsibility.” (Washington Post $)
