Evaluation of the costs and benefits of interventions to reduce indoor air pollution

Worldwide, more than three billion people cook with wood, coal and other solid fuels on open fires or traditional stoves, contributing to more than 1.5 million deaths annually and a multitude of negative economic and environmental impacts. The aim of this article is to present the costs and benefits of interventions to reduce indoor air pollution by halving the global population currently lacking access to (1) cleaner fuels (liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)) and (2) cleaner-burning and more efficient stoves. Results are presented for 11 world subregions. Annual costs and benefits of the two interventions are modelled from 2005 until 2015. Intervention costs include fuel, stove, and programme costs, from which monetary fuel cost savings are subtracted to estimate net costs. Economic benefits include less expenditure on health care, health-related productivity gains, fuel collection and cooking time savings, and environmental impacts. Globally, annual economic benefits of halving the population without access to LPG amount to (US)$ 91 billion at a net cost of $ 13 billion. The improved stove intervention generates $ 105 billion in economic benefits at a negative net cost of $ 34 billion. The resulting benefit–cost ratios (BCR) for both interventions are favourable. The BCR for LPG ranges from 1.5 to 21.2 in rural areas, and from 2.6 to negative in urban areas. The BCR for improved stoves is negative in all sub-regions, as fuel cost savings exceed intervention costs, thus giving net negative costs. Investments in interventions to reduce indoor air pollution are potentially cost-beneficial.