Clean Air likely to unlock $220 billion economic opportunity for India by 2030: Dalberg analysis

Air pollution is typically discussed as a public health and environmental challenge, but a new analysis presented at the IVCA Clean Air Forum 2026 argues that improving air quality could also emerge as one of India’s largest economic opportunities. 

Presenting findings from The Economics of Clean Air: Building the Business Case for India’s Air Quality Management (AQM) Investment Opportunity, Jagjeet Sareen, Partner, India Head and Global Climate Practice Co-Lead at Dalberg Advisors, said reducing India’s PM2.5 pollution levels by around 20% could unlock an estimated $220 billion economic opportunity by 2030. 

According to the analysis, the potential value creation would be equivalent to nearly 5.5% of India’s 2025 GDP, driven by productivity gains, lower healthcare costs, new business opportunities, and environmental benefits. 

Sareen said the economic case for clean air is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. “Poor air quality has long been framed as a public health and compliance issue. According to our analysis, cleaner air is both a public health benefit and an economic opportunity. A 20% reduction in India’s PM2.5 levels can unlock a $220 billion economic opportunity by 2030—through productivity gains, new value chains and improved health outcomes—while supporting 1.4 million jobs cumulatively and abating 115 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually. The numbers make the investment case. What’s needed now is the capital to match it,” he said. 

The study estimates that cleaner air could generate substantial economic gains through improved workforce productivity, lower absenteeism and better overall health outcomes. 

It also points to reduced healthcare expenditure and lower economic losses linked to premature mortality, while creating new markets and business opportunities across emerging clean-air technologies and services. 

Among sectors with the strongest economic potential, transport, and solid waste management were identified as key drivers of value creation. 

According to the analysis, capturing this opportunity will require large-scale investment across multiple sectors including transport, agriculture, residential combustion, industrial emissions control, construction and road dust management, power generation, solid waste management and air-quality monitoring infrastructure. 

The presentation argued that investments in air-quality solutions should not be viewed as environmental spending alone but as growth-oriented capital deployment capable of delivering economic, social and climate outcomes simultaneously. 

The analysis also highlighted several enabling factors that could accelerate adoption of clean-air solutions at scale, including greater mobilisation of private capital, stronger digital public infrastructure, deployment of innovative technologies, development of specialised skills and deeper community participation. 

The findings align with the broader objective of the IVCA Clean Air Forum 2026, which seeks to reposition clean air from an environmental challenge into an investable economic opportunity. 

The forum comes at a time when air pollution continues to impose a significant human and economic cost on India, with estimates indicating that poor air quality contributes to more than 1.6 million deaths annually. 

Despite the scale of the challenge, air-tech remains among the most underfunded segments within the climate investment ecosystem. 

The forum brought together institutional investors, deep-tech entrepreneurs, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to explore how capital can support scalable and commercially viable solutions for improving air quality and building a stronger market for air quality management in India.