In 2023 alone, 42,000 South Africans died from exposure to fine particle pollution (PM2.5), including more than 1,300 children under five, according to a new report released on 3 June by Greenpeace Africa and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
The report, Unmasking the Toll of Fine Particle Pollution in South Africa, estimates that PM2.5 pollution cost the country more than R960-billion in 2023 – equivalent to 14% of GDP – through premature deaths, illness, lost productivity and overburdened health systems.
PM2.5 refers to airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres, mainly formed by burning coal and fuel. These particles, as CREA analyst Lauri Myllyvirta previously explained to Daily Maverick, are “small enough to pass from lungs to the bloodstream and wreak havoc on all our internal organs”.
