{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,31]],"date-time":"2026-10-31T18:34:48Z","timestamp":1793471688908,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775088000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Air pollution (AIRP) remains a critical public health and environmental challenge in developing Asia, where rapid industrialization and fossil fuel dependence continue to undermine population health and longevity. This study examines the impact of AIRP on life expectancy (LIFE) and investigates whether renewable energy adoption moderates this relationship. AIRP is proxied by carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) and nitrous oxide (N\u2082O) emissions, which capture pollution-intensive energy systems, industrial activity, and agricultural practices that jointly generate health-damaging co-pollutants, particularly in contexts where consistent long-term data on ambient pollutants such as PM\u2082.\u2085 are unavailable. Using balanced panel data for 30 developing Asian countries from 2000 to 2023, we apply fixed effects, system GMM, and Lewbel IV-2SLS estimators to address unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, and persistence in health outcomes, while accounting for key socioeconomic and healthcare-related confounders. The results indicate that higher CO\u2082 and N\u2082O emissions significantly reduce LIFE, with CO\u2082 exerting a relatively stronger adverse effect. Importantly, greater renewable energy adoption weakens the negative association between emissions and LIFE, suggesting a mitigating role of clean energy transitions. While acknowledging that LIFE is influenced by multiple structural factors beyond AIRP, the findings provide robust evidence that renewable energy expansion can contribute to improved environmental quality and long-term health outcomes. These results highlight the potential co-benefits of clean energy policies for environmental sustainability and public health, offering cautious and policy-relevant insights aligned with SDG 3, SDG 7, and SDG 13.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1724402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T05:23:27Z","timestamp":1775107407000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Impact of air pollution on life expectancy in Asian developing countries: Does renewable energy adoption matter?"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Bo","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Philosophy, Guizhou University","place":["Guiyang, Guizhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatma Ahmed","family":"Hassan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, College of Business Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Waqar","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics, International Islamic University Islamabad","place":["Islamabad, Pakistan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valentin Marian","family":"Antohi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business Administration, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati","place":["Galati, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Costinela","family":"Fortea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business Administration, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati","place":["Galati, Romania"]},{"name":"Department of Finance, Accounting and Economic Theory, Transilvania University of Brasov","place":["Brasov, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C\u0103t\u0103lin Ple\u0219ea","family":"Condratovici","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological and Functional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati","place":["Galati, Romania"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1167","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)02840-X","article-title":"Global, regional, and national burden of household air pollution, 1990\u20132021: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2021","volume":"405","author":"Bennitt","year":"2025","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1080\/10168737.2024.2331463","article-title":"Shadow economy and environmental pollution nexus in developing countries: what is the role of corruption?","volume":"38","author":"Ahmad","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int Econ J"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.3390\/economies12050113","article-title":"Empowering Pakistan\u2019s economy: the role of health and education in shaping labor force participation and economic growth","volume":"12","author":"Umair","year":"2024","journal-title":"Economies"},{"key":"ref4","volume-title":"Striving for clean air: Air pollution and public health in South Asia","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1590","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehz135","article-title":"Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions","volume":"40","author":"Lelieveld","year":"2019","journal-title":"Eur Heart J"},{"key":"ref6","volume-title":"The silent killer: Over 100 daily deaths of children under five linked to air pollution in East Asia and the Pacific [press release]","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref7","article-title":"Trends in air quality and health impacts: Insights from central and South Asia. 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