Over 30% deaths in ’18 caused by fossil fuels: Study

Over 30% of deaths in India in 2018 were caused by air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, a new study conducted by scientists from Harvard University, University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London have found. Researchers estimated that exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18% of total global deaths in 2018, which was around one out of five.

The study, which has been published in Environmental Research, a peer-reviewed journal, states that more than 8 million people are killed each year by air pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal and diesel. However, topping the global charts in the most number of such deaths was India and China.

China had the highest premature mortality with 3.91 million deaths and India accounted for 2.46 million deaths.