Briefing
A Breath of Fresh Air: the risks of air pollution and the opportunity beyond toxic assets
Air pollution: one of the most damaging health risks in portfolios - yet largely invisible in investment decision-making.
This Briefing reveals a critical reality: air pollution has been hiding in plain sight of investors. This blind spot is driving large-scale health and environmental harm and is now translating into material financial exposure as regulation tightens, litigation expands and operational disruption increases.
Air pollution is a health crisis, with wider implications for climate, nature and human rights. Climate, air pollution, health and nature are deeply interconnected, yet investment approaches often treat them separately. The result is missed health benefits, increased risk and weaker long-term returns.
What makes this moment different is the speed of change. Regulatory pressure, legal risk and operational impacts linked to air pollution are escalating faster than most investment frameworks have adapted. Air pollution risk is no longer just regulated - it is increasingly litigated, and harder to predict or insure against.
Air pollution drives some of the most serious health and environmental harms across key sectors including transport, construction, logistics, energy and food systems. Its impacts do not stop at people’s health; they reappear as lost productivity, workforce illness, community opposition, damage to natural systems, stranded assets and regulatory intervention - eroding long-term value across diversified portfolios.
This Briefing sits at the heart of ShareAction’s Health Dividend work to put health at the centre of investment decision-making. It sets out why air pollution is now a material investment issue, the evidence behind it, and what investors can do - using existing tools, data and stewardship approaches - to act now.