Overview
The 2025 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change has been published, revealing that the health impacts of climate change have reached unprecedented and alarming levels. The annual report, produced by a global collaboration of experts, tracks progress on the relationship between climate change and public health.
The report further stresses that the health impacts of climate change and opportunities for climate action must be understood at the country level to protect health, reduce inequities, and maximise associated health co-benefits. Country information sheets developed in collaboration with UNDP, and supported by WHO and GCHA, focus on the health and climate impacts of air pollution and aim to support national policy engagement through key data and insights.
Nepal: Information sheet on climate change, air pollution, and health: Key findings
- Ambient air pollution from human activities was responsible for more than 35,000 deaths from particulate air pollution (PM2.5) in Nepal in 2021. Of these deaths, 27 percent came from fossil fuel burning, with 12 percent from coal burning alone, and a staggering 47 percent from biomass burning.
- The estimated economic value of these premature deaths was US$3.5 billion. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports for Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 3.9.1 (Mortality from air pollution) that deaths attributable to ambient air pollution in Nepal represent 21 percent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 19 percent of Ischemic stroke, 27 percent of ischemic heart disease, 31 percent of lower respiratory infections, and 15 percent of lung cancer deaths.
- Most of these deaths can be prevented by shifting to renewable energy sources that avoid the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, while reducing GHG emissions.
- Air pollution from the use of fossil fuels in the transport sector was responsible for 4,300 deaths in 2021, 12 percent of all air pollution-related deaths
- Nepal has the opportunity to prevent each year over 16,000 deaths caused by exposure to household-derived outdoor air pollution, by promoting the transition to clean renewable energies in the household sector.
Data source: Nepal Information Sheet
https://lancetcountdown.org/2025-report/
