Record-breaking heat, extreme weather events, air pollution and the spread of infectious disease: climate change poses an already vast yet rising threat to the health of humans around the world, experts warn.

The latest round of UN climate talks begin next week during what is expected to be the hottest year in recorded history — and in the shadow of climate sceptic Donald Trump’s re-election as US president.

The COP29 negotiations will be held in Azerbaijan as the world continues to emit increasing levels of planet-heating fossil fuels, even as many nations have been lashed by devastating floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms.

“Climate change is making us sick, and urgent action is a matter of life and death,” the World Health Organisation warned this week.

Here are some of the ways that global warming affects health.

Extreme heat

The EU’s climate monitor said this week that 2024 is “virtually certain” to surpass last year to become the hottest year in recorded history. It is also expected to be the first year that is more than 1.5 °C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.

Out of 15 ways that climate change impacts health being tracked by experts as part of The Lancet Countdown, 10 have now “reached concerning new records”, according to the group’s latest report.

The number of over-65s who died from heat has risen by 167% since the 1990s, just one of the recent all-time highs, the report said.

Extreme heat leads to numerous health risks such as kidney disorders, strokes, adverse pregnancy outcomes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, organ failure and ultimately death.

Jeni Miller, executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said “this year has underlined the growing impacts of a warming climate on people’s health and wellbeing”.

She pointed to extreme heat leading to 700 deaths and more than 40,000 cases of heat stroke in India, “climate-exacerbated” rains causing a dam to collapse in Nigeria killing 320, and 48 out of 50 US states “experiencing moderate or worse drought”.

Spain is meanwhile still recovering from its deadliest floods in a generation, while parts of the United States and Cuba are picking up the pieces after recent hurricanes.

Droughts, floods and other extreme weather events are also expected to hit global crops, leading to rising hunger in many regions.

Air pollution

Almost all — 99% — of the world’s population breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for air pollution.

This pollution has been found to increase the risk of respiratory diseases, strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes and other health problems, posing a threat that has been compared to tobacco.

Almost seven million premature deaths a year are linked to air pollution, according to the WHO.

Just last week, Pakistan’s second-biggest city Lahore recorded air pollution at 40 times the level deemed acceptable by the WHO.

In better news, the Lancet Countdown report found that deaths from fossil fuel-related air pollution fell by nearly 7% from 2016 to 2021, mainly due to efforts to reduce pollution from burning coal.

Infectious diseases

The changing climate means that mosquitoes, birds and mammals will roam beyond their previous habitats, raising the threat that they could spread infectious diseases with them.

Dengue, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile virus and malaria are all mosquito-borne diseases that could spread wider in a warming world.

The transmission risk of one dengue-spreading mosquito has risen by 43% over the last 60 years, according to the Lancet Countdown. A new global record of over five million dengue cases was recorded last year.

Storms and floods create stagnant water that are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and also increase the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea.

Poor air quality may not only spike respiratory, cardiac, and mental health issues but can also lead to weight gain and obesity — a precursor to several diseases, said doctors on Monday, even as the national capital saw worse pollution levels. 

On Monday, Delhi’s air quality further plummeted with the Air Quality Index (AQI) surpassing 400 in multiple parts of the national capital, placing it in the ‘severe’ category.

Areas including Anand Vihar (433), Ashok Vihar (410), Rohini (411), and Vivek Vihar (426) registered AQI levels above 400, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Other regions like Dwarka, Patparganj, Jahangirpuri, and Punjabi Bagh also recorded ‘severe’ AQI levels.

Different studies have proven that an increase in PM10 & PM2.5 leads to an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI). Long-term exposure to toxic air — consisting of particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide — can drive systemic inflammation and metabolic disturbances. These factors are crucial in weight gain and obesity.

Besides causing damage to the lungs, liver, and kidneys, PM2.5 can also influence metabolism rates.

The health experts noted that poor air quality can force people to stay indoors and decrease physical activity levels — leading to obesity.

“People of Delhi are getting scared to go out of their homes. The outdoor activity of younger children who are in the growing phase of their lives, are severely restricted due to which they engage themselves in indoor activities such as playing games on the phone or watching television. Lack of physical exercise in this group of patients and overeating leads to the problem of obesity,” Dr (prof) Bobby Bhalotra, Vice Chairman, Department of Respiratory Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, told IANS.

He added that patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes are also at risk of weight gain.

“These patients have to do the walking as part of their treatment and they are used to walking every day to burn extra calories and keep their muscles active. Due to air pollution, they are locked inside their home and hence are gaining weight. Obesity in both of these groups of patients is mentally as physically very harmful,” Bhalotra added.

According to a recent meta-analysis published in the journal BMC Public Health, air pollution can impair metabolic function by influencing inflammation in fat tissue, increasing oxidative stress, and altering individual dietary habits, with a “negative effect on glucose metabolism” — leading to weight gain.

“Different studies have proven that an increase in PM 10 and PM 2.5 leads to an increase in body mass index (BMI). This effect is more pronounced in adolescence where rise in obesity is related to increase in air pollution,” Dr. Vivek Bindal, Director & Head– Max Institute of Minimal Access, Bariatric & Robotic Surgery, Max Super Speciality Hospital, told IANS.

Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm throughout India and among Indian communities worldwide. It is a time marked by the illumination of lamps, family gatherings, vibrant fireworks, and the preparation of delicious traditional sweets. However, amid the festive cheer, the impact of post-Diwali pollution on health has become a growing concern, especially as environmental issues become more pressing. In 2024, understanding and mitigating these effects is essential for healthier celebrations.

The Causes of Post-Diwali Pollution

The primary sources of pollution during Diwali include:

Firecrackers: The bursting of firecrackers is synonymous with Diwali celebrations, but it is also the main contributor to air and noise pollution. Firecrackers release a variety of pollutants, including particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and heavy metals like lead and cadmium.

Increased Vehicular Emissions: Diwali brings an influx of travel as people visit friends and relatives, increasing the number of vehicles on the roads and the associated emissions.

Festive Waste: Decorations, packaging from gifts, and remnants of firecrackers contribute to solid waste, which can end up in landfills or open spaces, further exacerbating pollution.

Types of Pollution During Diwali

Air Pollution: The most significant environmental impact of Diwali is air pollution, which results from the excessive burning of firecrackers. The pollutants released into the air contribute to smog formation and poor air quality.

Noise Pollution: Firecrackers produce sound levels that often exceed the permissible decibel limit, leading to increased noise pollution. This can be particularly distressing for infants, the elderly, and individuals with health issues.

Water Pollution: Although less discussed, water pollution can also occur post-Diwali due to the improper disposal of waste materials and remnants from firecrackers.

Health Effects of Post-Diwali Pollution

The impact of pollution during and after Diwali is not just an environmental issue; it directly affects public health in numerous ways:

Respiratory Problems: High levels of particulate matter can irritate the airways, exacerbating conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions are at a higher risk of health complications.

Allergic Reactions: Pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can trigger allergic reactions, including sneezing, coughing, and skin irritations.

Cardiovascular Concerns: Fine particulate matter can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Worsening Air Quality: The Air Quality Index (AQI) often shows a significant spike during Diwali. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata, which already battle air pollution, experience a substantial decline in air quality, affecting millions of people.

Noise-Related Health Issues: Excessive noise from firecrackers can lead to hearing loss, increased stress levels, sleep disturbances, and heightened blood pressure.

How to Celebrate Diwali Safely

To minimize the adverse effects of pollution on health, consider the following tips for a more eco-friendly Diwali:

Opt for Eco-Friendly Firecrackers: Green crackers, developed to produce lower levels of pollutants, are a better alternative to traditional fireworks.

Celebrate with Lamps and Diyas: Shift the focus of your celebrations from firecrackers to lighting traditional oil lamps and diyas, which symbolize the true essence of Diwali.

Plant Trees: A simple yet effective measure is planting trees, which helps combat air pollution.

Limit Vehicular Use: Carpool or use public transportation to reduce traffic emissions during the festive period.

Practice Waste Management: Recycle and dispose of waste responsibly. Use biodegradable materials for decoration.

Post-Diwali Measures

Even after the festivities have ended, it is essential to take measures to protect your health:

Air Purifiers: Invest in air purifiers for indoor spaces, especially in areas where pollution levels are typically higher.

Masks: Wearing N95 or similar masks when stepping out can help filter fine particles in polluted air.

Stay Hydrated: Drinking plenty of water aids in flushing toxins from the body.

Ventilate Your Home: Regularly open windows during the day (when the pollution levels are relatively lower) to allow for air circulation.

While Diwali is an occasion for celebration, it’s crucial to be mindful of the environmental and health impacts associated with the festival. By choosing sustainable practices and prioritizing our collective well-being, we can ensure that Diwali remains a joyous and health-conscious event. Reducing pollution doesn’t mean dimming the festival’s spirit; instead, it fosters a more meaningful, safe, and responsible way of celebrating.

(This article is meant for informational purposes only and must not be considered a substitute for advice provided by  qualified medical professionals.)

 

Last Updated:October 30, 2024, 20:10 IST

The celebration of Diwali is indeed of major cultural significance but it also compromises skin health due to pollution

Protecting skin against environmental toxins is crucial, especially in high-pollution seasons

Diwali, the festival of joy, crackers, sweets and lights, is a festival that is celebrated with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. One of the most highly celebrated festivals in India, Diwali often contributes to a lot of air pollution, especially in urban areas. This pollution consists of a cocktail of harmful environmental toxins, including particulate matter (PM), heavy metals, and various chemical pollutants. The effects of these toxins lead to a lot of problems one of which is their profound long-term impacts on skin health and aging.

Environmental toxins have the potential to fasten the skin aging process in several ways. Dr. Monica Bambroo, Head, Dermatology & Cosmetology, Artemis Hospitals shares long term effects of Diwali pollution:

1. Pollutants generate free radicals, which damage collagen and elastin fibers that are key proteins responsible for maintaining skin’s firmness and elasticity. The after effects of coming into contact with these radicals can be wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin, making individuals appear older than they are. Apart from this, pollution-induced inflammation can exacerbate skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, causing irritation and compromised skin barriers.
2. Being continuously exposed to a lot of toxins is another major concern. It is responsible for causing impaired skin barrier function. The skin acts as a protective shield, but pollutants can disrupt this barrier, resulting in moisture loss and increased sensitivity. Over time, this can lead to chronic dryness, redness, and an overall dull complexion.
3. It has also been observed that prolonged exposure to polluted environments is likely to increase the risk of skin cancer. Certain chemicals found in urban pollution have been associated to cellular mutations that can lead to malignant growths.

In essence, the celebration of Diwali is indeed of major cultural significance but it also compromises skin health due to pollution. Protecting skin against environmental toxins is crucial, especially in high-pollution seasons. Including antioxidant-rich skincare products in your skin care routine, maintaining hydration, and practicing sun protection strictly can help in mitigating the detrimental effects of pollution on aging skin.

Toronto — Beaches across Canada’s far northeast Newfoundland and Labrador province have increasingly been littered with mysterious white blobs. Their appearance has so far befuddled scientists, and led Canadian officials in the region to launch an investigation.

Beachgoers first noticed the unusual blobs on the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador in September. People quickly started sharing photos of the gelatinous clumps on a Facebook group with more than 40,000 members that is dedicated to exploring the region’s coastal areas.

“Anyone know what these blobs are. They are like touton dough and all over the beach,” wrote Philip Grace on the Beachcombers Facebook group, comparing the finds to a regional dish. “These were in sizes ranging from dinner plate size right down to a toonie [Canadian 2-dollar coin].”

Some people speculated online that the mystery blobs could be the result of ships dumping substances into the ocean. Others suggested they could be whale sperm, whale vomit or even ambergris, a byproduct of sperm whales that’s valued for its use in perfumes and other products. 

But the experts weren’t to be dragged into the speculation.

Environment and Climate Change Canada, the government agency responsible for investigating the mystery, simply referred to the blobs as “a mystery substance” when asked by CBS News on Tuesday.

Newfoundland resident David McGrath told The Guardian newspaper that he’d seen hundreds of the items scattered across his local beaches.

“They looked just like a pancake before you flip it over, when it has those dimpled little bubbles. I poked a couple with a stick and they were spongy and firm inside,” he told the newspaper. “I’ve lived here for 67 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Never.”

“They sent the Coast Guard over and I asked them how bad it was. They told me they had 28 miles of coastline littered with this stuff and had no idea what it was,” McGrath said. “Is it toxic? It is safe for people to touch?” 

Samantha Bayard, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada, told CBS News the agency was first informed about the “mystery substance” on beaches on Sept. 7. Environmental emergency officers visited sites at least three times to assess the situation and collect samples.

“To date, ECCC has conducted several aerial, underwater and manual surveys of the beaches and shorelines in the area to determine the extent of the substance, what it is and its potential source,” she said. “At this time, neither the substance nor its source has been identified.”

Bayard said a preliminary laboratory analysis by the agency suggested the material “could be plant-based,” but stressed that additional analysis was required “before a final determination can be made on the substance and its potential impacts.”

Stan Tobin, a local environmentalist, told CBS News’ partner network BBC News that he’d found “hundreds and hundreds of blobs — big blobs, little blobs.”

“Somebody or somebodies know where this came from and how it got there, and knows damn well it’s not supposed to be here,” Tobin told the BBC.

Bayard said the ECCC was committed to addressing pollution incidents and environmental threats with urgency.

“If enforcement officers find evidence of a possible violation of federal environmental legislation, they will take appropriate action in accordance with the applicable Compliance and Enforcement Policy,” she told CBS News.

New Delhi — Scientists say Indian farmers’ eager uptake of a painkiller for their cattle in the 1990s has led to the inadvertent deaths of half of a million people and massive economic losses — not from any harm to the cattle, but from the loss of millions of vultures, scavengers that historically devoured animals’ remains before they could rot and become vectors for disease.

In early 1990s, the patent on a painkiller called diclofenac lifted, making it cheap and widely available for India’s massive agricultural sector. Farmers use it to treat a wide array of conditions in cattle. But even a small amount of the drug is fatal to vultures. Since the beginning of its widespread use in India, the domestic vulture population has dropped from a whopping 50 million to just a few thousand — and according to a study published by the American Economic Association, the impact on humans has been monumental, reflecting the vital role the scavengers play.

Vultures have been a crucial part of India’s ecosystems for centuries. According to the authors of the study, entitled “The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From The Decline of Vultures in India,” the large, homely birds are a “keystone species” — one that plays an irreplaceable role in an ecosystem. 

They’re the only scavengers that feed entirely on carcasses, and they do it extremely efficiently, quickly devouring the remains and leaving little behind to spread disease. The study authors say India’s vultures would typically eat at least 50 million animal carcasses every year, before their population was decimated.

In doing so, they prevented the dead farm animals from rotting, and the deadly bacteria and other pathogens that thrive in carcasses from being transmitted into human populations.

“In a country like India with prohibitions on eating beef, most cattle end up turning into carcasses,” Anant Sudarshan, an associate professor of economics at the University of Warwick in England, who co-authored the study, told CBS News. “Vultures provide an incredible disposal service for free. … A group of vultures takes about 45 minutes to turn a cow carcass into bone.”

The vultures’ keen appetite also helped keep the populations of competing scavengers in check, such as feral dogs and rats, which can transmit rabies and a host of other diseases.

In 1994, farmers began giving diclofenac to their cattle and other livestock. The drug causes kidney failure and death in vultures that feed on the carcasses of animals given the painkiller, and the population of the birds shrank from 50 million to just 20,000 over the course of the ensuing decade alone.

Without the vultures around to do the job, farmers started disposing their dead livestock in local bodies of water, which caused water pollution — and another way for pathogens to reach humans.

Sudarshan and study co-author Eyal Frank, an environmental economist at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, examined the impact of the drastically reduced vulture population on human health by mapping vulture habitats with health data from more than 600 districts in India. They said their research shows 100,000 human deaths every year between 2000 and 2005 could be linked with the decreased vulture populations. 

It also shows economic losses they estimated at $69 billion per year, largely associated with premature human deaths due to the collapse of the scavenger population.

These deaths were caused, according to their research, by the spread of diseases that a thriving vulture population would have mitigated. Stray dog populations, and with them, the spread of rabies, also increased during the timeframe, as did the amount of bacteria measured in many local water sources.

“India is now the largest center of rabies in the world, as the feral dog population has grown dramatically,” Sudarshan told CBS News.

Without a major vulture rebound, the study authors said the spread of disease and resulting deaths will only continue in the coming years, as will the costs associated with health care.

India did ban diclofenac for veterinary use in 2006, but Sudarshan said the ban needs to be enforced much more effectively. He and Eyal have called for more conservation funding to boost vulture populations, but they’ve warned that even if the Indian government does mount a major effort, it will take at least a decade for the species to bounce back to the extent required because they’re “slow reproducers.”

As an alternative to bringing the vultures back, Sudarshan said India could build a network of incinerators around the country, but the estimated cost of that is about $1 billion per year, and they would use a huge amount of energy and create considerable air pollution, which is already a major problem for India. 

“So, it makes more sense to bring back the natural way of dealing with the millions of animal carcasses that India produces each year,” he said.

And he said that work must start urgently, as the “vultures began dying in the 1990s. India has not done anything three decades on.”

The government does spend about $3 million per year to save India’s native tigers. Sudarshan said while vultures may be far less of a tourist attraction, there’s a broader question about “the basis of our conservation policy.”

“Our paper shows that the cost of losing them [vultures] is about $69 billion a year, which is far higher than any benefits the tiger” brings, he said, adding: “We need to think from a cost effectiveness point of view and growth view, how should we pick species to conserve?”

“Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife – and not just the cute and cuddly,” said his co-author, Frank. “They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”

CNN
 — 

Air pollution spiked to unhealthy levels around the world in 2021, according to a new report.

The report by IQAir, a company that tracks global air quality, found that average annual air pollution in every country — and 97% of cities — exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines, which were designed to help governments craft regulations to protect public health.

Only 222 cities of the 6,475 analyzed had average air quality that met WHO’s standard. Three territories were found to have met WHO guidelines: the French territory of New Caledonia and the United States territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were among the countries with the worst air pollution, exceeding the guidelines by at least 10 times.

The Scandinavian countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom ranked among the best countries for air quality, with average levels that exceeded the guidelines by 1 to 2 times.

In the United States, IQAir found air pollution exceeded WHO guidelines by 2 to 3 times in 2021.

“This report underscores the need for governments around the world to help reduce global air pollution,” Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America, told CNN. “(Fine particulate matter) kills far too many people every year and governments need to set more stringent air quality national standards and explore better foreign policies that promote better air quality.”

Above: IQAir analyzed average annual air quality for more than 6,000 cities and categorized them from best air quality, in blue (Meets WHO PM2.5 guildline) to worst, in purple (Exceeds WHO PM2.5 guideline by over 10 times). An interactive map is available from IQAir.

It’s the first major global air quality report based on WHO’s new annual air pollution guidelines, which were updated in September 2021. The new guidelines halved the acceptable concentration of fine particulate matter — or PM 2.5 — from 10 down to 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

PM 2.5 is the tiniest pollutant yet also among the most dangerous. When inhaled, it travels deep into lung tissue where it can enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the burning of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to a number of health threats including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.

Millions of people die each year from air quality issues. In 2016, around 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to WHO. If the 2021 guidelines had been applied that year, WHO found there could have been nearly 3.3 million fewer pollution-related deaths.

IQAir analyzed pollution-monitoring stations in 6,475 cities across 117 countries, regions and territories.

In the US, air pollution spiked in 2021 compared to 2020. Out of the more than 2,400 US cities analyzed, Los Angeles air remained the most polluted, despite seeing a 6% decrease compared to 2020. Atlanta and Minneapolis saw significant increases in pollution, the report showed.

“The (United States’) reliance on fossil fuels, increasing severity of wildfires as well as varying enforcement of the Clean Air Act from administration to administration have all added to U.S. air pollution,” the authors wrote.

Researchers say the main sources of pollution in the US were fossil fuel-powered transportation, energy production and wildfires, which wreak havoc on the country’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

“We are heavily dependent on fossil fuels, especially in terms of transportation,” said Hammes, who lives a few miles from Los Angeles. “We can act smartly on this with zero emissions, but we’re still not doing it. And this is having a devastating impact on the air pollution that we’re seeing in major cities.”

Climate change-fueled wildfires played a significant role in reducing air quality in the US in 2021. The authors pointed to a number of fires that led to hazardous air pollution — including the Caldor and Dixie fires in California, as well as the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which wafted smoke all the way to the East Coast in July.

China — which is among the countries with the worst air pollution — showed improved air quality in 2021. More than half of the Chinese cities analyzed in the report saw lower levels of air pollution compared to the previous year. The capital city of Beijing continued a five-year trend of improved air quality, according to the report, due to a policy-driven drawdown of polluting industries in the city.

The report also found that the Amazon Rainforest, which had acted as the world’s major defender against the climate crisis, emitted more carbon dioxide than it absorbed last year. Deforestation and wildfires have threatened the critical ecosystem, polluted the air and contributed to climate change.

“This is all a part of the formula that will lead to or is leading to global warming.” Hammes said.

The report also unveiled some inequalities: Monitoring stations remain scant in some developing countries in Africa, South America and the Middle East, resulting in a dearth of air quality data in those regions.

“When you don’t have that data, you’re really in the dark,” Hammes said.

Hammes noted the African country of Chad was included in the report for the first time, due to an improvement in its monitoring network. IQAir found the country’s air pollution was the second-highest in the world last year, behind Bangladesh.

Tarik Benmarhnia, a climate change epidemiologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who has studied the health impact of wildfire smoke, also noted that relying only on monitoring stations can lead to blind spots in these reports.

“I think it is great that they relied on different networks and not only governmental sources,” Benmarhnia, who was not involved in this report, told CNN. “However, many regions do not have enough stations and alternative techniques exist.”

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in its 2021 report that, in addition to slowing the speed of global warming, curbing the use of fossil fuels would have the added benefit of improving air quality and public health.

Hammes said the IQAir report is even more reason for the world to wean off fossil fuel.

“We’ve got the report, we can read it, we can internalize it and really devote ourselves to taking action,” she said. “There needs to be a major move towards renewable energy. We need to take drastic action in order to reverse the tide of global warming; otherwise, the impact and the train that we’re on (would be) irreversible.”

CNN
 — 

As the US attempts to wean itself off its heavy reliance on fossil fuels and shift to cleaner energy sources, many experts are eyeing a promising solution: your neighborhood big-box stores and shopping malls.

The rooftops and parking lot space available at retail giants like Walmart, Target and Costco is massive. And these largely empty spaces are being touted as untapped potential for solar power that could help the US reduce its dependency on foreign energy, slash planet-warming emissions and save companies millions of dollars in the process.

At the IKEA store in Baltimore, installing solar panels on the roof and over the store’s parking lot cut the amount of energy it needed to purchase by 84%, slashing its costs by 57% from September to December of 2020, according to the company. (The panels also provide some beneficial shade to keep customers’ cars cool on hot, sunny days.)

As of February 2021, IKEA had 54 solar arrays installed across 90% of its US locations.

Big-box stores and shopping centers have enough roof space to produce half of their annual electricity needs from solar, according to a report from nonprofit Environment America and research firm Frontier Group.

Leveraging the full rooftop solar potential of these superstores would generate enough electricity to power nearly 8 million average homes, the report concluded, and would cut the same amount of planet-warming emissions as pulling 11.3 million gas-powered cars off the road.

The average Walmart store, for example, has 180,000 square feet of rooftop, according to the report. That’s roughly the size of three football fields and enough space to support solar energy that could power the equivalent of 200 homes, the report said.

“Every rooftop in America that isn’t producing solar energy is a rooftop wasted as we work to break our dependence on fossil fuels and the geopolitical conflicts that come with them,” Johanna Neumann, senior director for Environment America’s campaign for 100% Renewable, told CNN. “Now is the time to lean into local renewable energy production, and there’s no better place than the roofs of America’s big-box superstores.”

Advocates involved in clean energy worker-training programs tell CNN that a solar revolution in big-box retail would also be a significant windfall for local communities, spurring economic growth while tackling the climate crisis, which has inflicted disproportionate harm on marginalized communities.

Yet only a fraction of big-box stores in the US have solar on their rooftops or solar canopies in parking lots, the report’s authors told CNN.

CNN reached out to five of the top US retailers — Walmart, Kroger, Home Depot, Costco and Target — to ask: Why not invest in more rooftop solar?

Many renewable energy experts point to solar as a relatively simple solution to cut down on costs and help rein in fossil fuel emissions, but the companies point to several roadblocks — regulations, labor costs and structural integrity of the rooftops themselves — that are preventing more widespread adoption.

The need for these kinds of clean energy initiatives is becoming “unquestionably urgent” as the climate crisis accelerates, said Edwin Cowen, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University.

“We are behind the eight ball, to put it mildly,” Cowen told CNN. “I would have loved to see policy help incentivize rooftop solar 15 years ago instead of five years ago in the commercial space. There’s still a tremendous amount of work to do.”

Neumann said Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, possesses by far the largest solar potential. Walmart has around 5,000 stores in the US and more than 783 million square feet of rooftop space — an area larger than Manhattan — and more than 8,974 gigawatt hours of annual rooftop solar potential, according to the report.

It’s enough electricity to power more than 842,000 homes, the report said.

Walmart spokesperson Mariel Messier told CNN the company is involved in renewable energy projects around the world, but many of them are not rooftop solar installations. The company has reported having completed on- and off-site wind and solar projects or had others under development with a capacity to produce more than 2.3 gigawatts of renewable energy.

Neumann said Environment America has met with Walmart a few times, urging the retailer to commit to installing solar panels on roofs and in parking lots. The company has said it’s aiming to source 100% of its energy through renewable projects by 2035.

“Of all the retailers in America, Walmart stands to make the biggest impact if they put rooftop solar on all of their stores,” Neumann told CNN. “And for us, this report just underscores just how much of an impact they could make if they make that decision.”

According to Environment America, Walmart had installed almost 194 megawatts of solar capacity on its US facilities as of the end of the 2021 fiscal year and additional capacity in off-site solar farms. The company’s installations in California were expected to provide between 20% to 30% of each location’s electricity needs.

Target ranked No. 1 for on-site solar capacity in 2019, according to industry trade group Solar Energy Industries Association’s most recent report. It currently has 542 locations with rooftop solar — around a quarter of the company’s stores — a Target spokesperson told CNN. Rooftop solar generates enough energy to meet 15% to 40% of Target properties’ energy needs, the spokesperson said.

Richard Galanti, the chief financial officer at Costco, said the company has 121 stores with rooftop solar around the world, 95 of which are in the US.

Walmart, Target and Costco did not share with CNN what their biggest barriers are to adding rooftop or parking lot solar panels to more stores.

“My suspicion is that they want an even stronger business case for deviating from business-as-usual,” Neumann said. “Historically, all those roofs have done is cover their stores, and rethinking how [they] use their buildings and thinking of them as energy generators, not just protection from rain, requires a small change in their business model.”

Home Depot, which has around 2,300 stores, currently has 75 completed rooftop solar projects, 12 in construction and more than 30 planned for future development, said Craig D’Arcy, the company’s director of energy management. Solar power generates around half of these stores’ energy needs on average, he said.

Aging rooftops at stores are a “huge impediment” to solar installation, D’Arcy added. If a roof needs to be replaced in the next 15 to 20 years or sooner, it doesn’t make financial sense for Home Depot to add solar systems today, he said.

“We have a goal of implementing solar rooftop where the economics are attractive,” D’Arcy told CNN.

CNN also reached out to Kroger, which owns about 2,800 stores across the US. Kristal Howard, a Kroger spokesperson, said the company currently has 15 properties — stores, distribution centers and manufacturing plants — with solar installations. One of the “multiple factors affecting the viability of a solar installation” was the stores’ ability to support a solar installation on the roofs, Howard said.

Cowen, the engineering professor at Cornell, said solar is already attractive, but that labor costs, incentives and the different layers of regulation likely pose some financial challenges in solar installations.

“For them, this means usually hiring a local site firm that can do that installation that also knows local policy,” Cowen said. “It’s just another layer of complexity that I think is beginning to make sense because the costs have come down enough, but it needs kind of reopening that door of getting into an existing building.”

Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, who co-chairs the power sector task force in the House, said the US has “failed to provide the incentives to people who have the expertise to go in and build these things.” The reason both retail companies and the power sector have not made much progress on solar is because “our system is so disjointed” and has a complex regulation structure, Casten said.

“Why aren’t we doing something that makes economic sense? The answer is this horribly disjointed federal policy where we massively subsidize fossil energy extraction, and we penalize clean energy production,” Casten told CNN. “For a long, long time, if you wanted to build a solar panel on the rooftop of Walmart, your biggest enemy was going to be your local utility because they didn’t want to lose the load.

“We could have done this decades ago,” Casten added. “And had we done it, we would not be in this dire position with the climate, but we’d also have a lot more money in our pocket.”

For Charles Callaway, director of organizing at the nonprofit group WE ACT for Environmental Justice, strengthening the rooftop solar capacity in big box retail stores is a no-brainer, especially if companies allow the local community to reap benefits either through installation jobs or sharing the electricity produced later.

Either way, it would put a massive dent in curbing the climate crisis and help usher in an equitable transition away from fossil fuels — and it’s doable, Callaway told CNN.

The New York City resident led a worker training program that helped train more than 100 local community members, mostly people of color, to become solar installers. He also formed a solar workers cooperative to ensure many of the participants of the training program get jobs in a tough market.

In the last two years, Callaway said his group has not only installed solar panels on roofs of affordable housing units, but also equipment capable of producing 2 megawatts of solar energy on shopping malls up in upstate New York. He emphasized that hiring locally would be most beneficial since local installers know the community and local regulations best.

“One of my huge concerns is social equity,” Cowen said. “Access to renewable energy is a fairly privileged position these days, and we’ve got to figure out ways to make that not true.”

Jasmine Graham, WE ACT’s energy justice policy manager, said the potential of building rooftop solar on big box superstores is encouraging, only “if these projects use local labor, if they are paying prevailing wages, and if this solar is being used in a manner such as community solar, which would allow [utility] bill discounts for folks that live in the same utility zone.”

Pressure is mounting for global leaders to act urgently on the climate crisis after a UN report in late February warned the window for action is rapidly closing.

Neumann believes the US can meet its energy demand with renewables. All it takes, she said, is the political will to make that switch, and the inclusion of the local community so no one gets left behind in the transition.

“The sooner we make that transition, the sooner we’ll have cleaner air, the sooner we’ll have a more protected environment and better health and the sooner we’ll have a more livable future for our kids,” Neumann said. “And even if that requires investment, it is an investment worth making.”