The Global Story, with smart takes and fresh perspectives on one big news story, every Monday to Friday from the BBC World Service.

Search for The Global Story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts, to find out more.

It's the week of Global climate summit of the United Nations.

The conference of parties are COP28.

And as leaders from around the world meet in the UAE to talk about how to deal with all sorts of climate emergencies,

we take a look at one of the urgent issues.

That of air pollution. According to World Health Organization, each year nearly 7 million lives are lost prematurely due to the harmful air we are breathing. So today we are going to Asia,

to the cities which are air pollution hotspots

to find out how lives and livelihoods are being impacted there and what can be done. Hello and

Namaste. I'm Divina Gupta and this is Business Daily on the BBC World Service.

We start in the world's most populous nation, India.

Every year, me along with 30 million people living in its capital city, Delhi, are exposed to the toxic air during the winter season. Things are no different this November.

I'm at a bazaar in Central Delhi. Around me, there are shops selling dry fruits, flowers,

sweets and decorative items. There is a haze of dust and smog around me. and that's because pollution levels right now are quite high

because many farmers around the city

burn the stubble of their crop and the smoke gets trapped in the air

and this along with firecrackers that burst in the season

just add to the pollution levels

one thing that I notice right now is that people are getting used to it. Many are not

even wearing a mask. So yeah, there is pollution and everything, but it's not really affecting.

I notice you're not wearing a mask. Yeah, I'm not wearing a mask. It's really not a problem. At least

right now it's not affecting any decision that we're making.

...