In a groundbreaking report released by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, Air Quality Asia, and 涩里番下载鈥檚 Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, researchers place eliminating the burning of coal and fossil fuels at the top of 23 practical interventions that can reduce air pollution to both improve public health and combat climate change.
The report, 鈥淎ir Pollution Interventions: Seeking the Intersection Between Climate and Health,鈥� finds that "the single most effective action to achieve co-benefits that improve health and impact climate change is to phase out the use of coal and other fossil fuels, such as lignite and tar products, for power production.鈥�
The World Health Organization estimates that ambient air pollution is responsible for 4.2 million deaths annually, with about 91 percent of the world's population living in places with unhealthy air quality. Additionally, as a growing body of evidence indicates, long term exposure to air pollution may worsen outcomes for patients infected by COVID-19.
Philip Landrigan
鈥淐limate change and air pollution are major threats to human health and economic development that must be addressed. The COVID pandemic has raised the stakes considerably,鈥� says report co-author and Professor of Biology Phil Landrigan, M.D., director of the Schiller Institute鈥檚 Global Observatory on Pollution and Health. 鈥淚t is essential to understand the extent to which these issues can be tackled together. Policymakers can use this report to prioritize investments that are the most effective in generating co-benefits across health and climate.鈥�
While some efforts鈦犫�攏amely those that replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources鈦犫�攊mprove both local health and favorably impact climate change, other, often politically popular programs are of limited value on either front.
"There has been an assumption that adverse conditions impacting climate change and air pollution are the same thing. This is not necessarily true," says Richard Fuller, Board Chair of the and a co-author of the report. "We wanted to see where the overlaps are, where investments can be directed that will improve health and also impact climate change."
The report's authors found that converting total power production from coal to renewable sources can be highly cost effective and fairly easy to implement, if the changes are made when new plants are brought online. On the other hand, the research team found that forest fire prevention, while beneficial from both health and climate standpoints, is difficult and can be costly.
The Top Five most effective interventions that improve both health鈦犫�攂y reducing particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (or PM 2.5)鈦犫�攁nd climate鈦犫�攂y reducing carbon dioxide emissions鈦犫�攁ccording to the report, are:
- Replacing coal with renewable sources of energy for total power production
- Replacing diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles in both the public and private sectors
- Eliminating uncontrolled diesel emissions
- Preventing crop burning
- Preventing forest fires