With a population rapidly approaching that of China crammed into just one third of the area, India suffers from resource scarcity on a level unlike any other nation. So while it nominally faces many of the same challenges as other BRIC nations – water scarcity, dirty energy supplies, human rights issues – India’s population density makes its situation exponentially more difficult. A World Bank study in 2014 found that environmental degradation like air pollution, water pollution, deforestation and natural disasters cost India $80bn per year, or nearly 6% of its economic activity. Of that total, 52% is attributable to air pollution. If you thought China’s smog was bad, Delhi’s air pollution levels can be twice as high, with even less government action to show for it. India’s air pollution is not only far worse than any of the other BRICs, it is so intense that it is reducing plants’ ability to photosynthesize sunlight, cutting crop yields in half.

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