U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
We evaluate the impact of climate change on U.S. air quality and health in 2050 and 2100 using a global modeling framework and integrated economic, climate, and air pollution projections. Three internally consistent socioeconomic scenarios are used to value health benefits of greenhouse gas mitigati...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Springer-Verlag
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105815 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0235-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5533-6570 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-5622 |
| _version_ | 1811084356141187072 |
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| author | Garcia Menendez, Fernando Saari, Rebecca Kaarina Monier, Erwan Selin, Noelle E |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Garcia Menendez, Fernando Saari, Rebecca Kaarina Monier, Erwan Selin, Noelle E |
| author_sort | Garcia Menendez, Fernando |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We evaluate the impact of climate change on U.S. air quality and health in 2050 and 2100 using a global modeling framework and integrated economic, climate, and air pollution projections. Three internally consistent socioeconomic scenarios are used to value health benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation policies specifically derived from slowing climate change. Our projections suggest that climate change, exclusive of changes in air pollutant emissions, can significantly impact ozone (O[subscript 3]) and fine particulate matter (PM[subscript 2.5]) pollution across the U.S. and increase associated health effects. Climate policy can substantially reduce these impacts, and climate-related air pollution health benefits alone can offset a significant fraction of mitigation costs. We find that in contrast to cobenefits from reductions to coemitted pollutants, the climate-induced air quality benefits of policy increase with time and are largest between 2050 and 2100. Our projections also suggest that increasing climate policy stringency beyond a certain degree may lead to diminishing returns relative to its cost. However, our results indicate that the air quality impacts of climate change are substantial and should be considered by cost-benefit climate policy analyses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:49:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/105815 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:49:26Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Springer-Verlag |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1058152022-09-28T10:17:15Z U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Garcia Menendez, Fernando Saari, Rebecca Kaarina Monier, Erwan Selin, Noelle E Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global Change Selin, Noelle Garcia Menendez, Fernando Saari, Rebecca Kaarina Monier, Erwan Selin, Noelle E We evaluate the impact of climate change on U.S. air quality and health in 2050 and 2100 using a global modeling framework and integrated economic, climate, and air pollution projections. Three internally consistent socioeconomic scenarios are used to value health benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation policies specifically derived from slowing climate change. Our projections suggest that climate change, exclusive of changes in air pollutant emissions, can significantly impact ozone (O[subscript 3]) and fine particulate matter (PM[subscript 2.5]) pollution across the U.S. and increase associated health effects. Climate policy can substantially reduce these impacts, and climate-related air pollution health benefits alone can offset a significant fraction of mitigation costs. We find that in contrast to cobenefits from reductions to coemitted pollutants, the climate-induced air quality benefits of policy increase with time and are largest between 2050 and 2100. Our projections also suggest that increasing climate policy stringency beyond a certain degree may lead to diminishing returns relative to its cost. However, our results indicate that the air quality impacts of climate change are substantial and should be considered by cost-benefit climate policy analyses. United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Climate Change Division (Cooperative Agreement XA-83600001-0) 2016-12-13T20:50:08Z 2016-12-13T20:50:08Z 2015-06 2015-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0013-936X 1520-5851 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105815 Garcia-Menendez, Fernando et al. “U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation.” Environmental Science & Technology 49.13 (2015): 7580–7588. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0235-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5533-6570 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-5622 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b01324 Environmental Science & Technology Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Springer-Verlag Prof. Selin via Phoebe Ayers |
| spellingShingle | Garcia Menendez, Fernando Saari, Rebecca Kaarina Monier, Erwan Selin, Noelle E U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title | U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title_full | U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title_fullStr | U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title_short | U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation |
| title_sort | u s air quality and health benefits from avoided climate change under greenhouse gas mitigation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105815 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0235-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5533-6570 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-5622 |
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