Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050

Zhang, Yuqiang; Smith, Steven J.; Bowden, Jared H.; Adelman, Zachariah; West, J. Jason

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f76

Title: Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050

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Abstract

Policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can bring ancillary benefits of improved air quality and reduced premature mortality, in addition to slowing climate change. Here we study the co-benefits of global and domestic GHG mitigation on US air quality and human health in 2050 at fine resolution using dynamical downscaling, and quantify for the first time the co-benefits from foreign GHG mitigation. Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG reductions in RCP4.5 avoid 16000 PM2.5-related all-cause deaths yr-1 (90% confidence interval, 11700-20300), and 8000 (3600-12400) O3-related respiratory deaths yr-1 in the US in 2050. Foreign GHG mitigation avoids 15% and 62% of PM2.5- and O3-related total avoided deaths, highlighting the importance of foreign GHG mitigation on US human health benefits. GHG mitigation in the US residential sector brings the largest co-benefits for PM2.5-related deaths (21% of total domestic co-benefits), and industry for O3 (17%). Monetized benefits, for avoided deaths from ozone, PM2.5, and heat stress from a related study, are $148 ($96-201) per ton CO2 at high valuation and $49 ($32-67) at low valuation, of which 36% are from foreign GHG reductions. These benefits likely exceed the marginal cost of GHG reductions in 2050. The US gains significantly greatermore »« less

Authors:

; Smith, Steven J.; Bowden, Jared H.; Adelman, Zachariah;

Publication Date:: Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017

Research Org.:: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1414549

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-125810
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326; 453040180

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Environmental Research Letters

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326

Publisher:: IOP Publishing

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Formats


                    Zhang, Yuqiang, Smith, Steven J., Bowden, Jared H., Adelman, Zachariah, and West, J. Jason. Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f76.

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                    Zhang, Yuqiang, Smith, Steven J., Bowden, Jared H., Adelman, Zachariah, & West, J. Jason. Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f76

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                    Zhang, Yuqiang, Smith, Steven J., Bowden, Jared H., Adelman, Zachariah, and West, J. Jason. 2017.  
        "Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f76.

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@article{osti_1414549,

  title        = {Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050},

  author       = {Zhang, Yuqiang and Smith, Steven J. and Bowden, Jared H. and Adelman, Zachariah and West, J. Jason},

  abstractNote = {Policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can bring ancillary benefits of improved air quality and reduced premature mortality, in addition to slowing climate change. Here we study the co-benefits of global and domestic GHG mitigation on US air quality and human health in 2050 at fine resolution using dynamical downscaling, and quantify for the first time the co-benefits from foreign GHG mitigation. Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG reductions in RCP4.5 avoid 16000 PM2.5-related all-cause deaths yr-1 (90% confidence interval, 11700-20300), and 8000 (3600-12400) O3-related respiratory deaths yr-1 in the US in 2050. Foreign GHG mitigation avoids 15% and 62% of PM2.5- and O3-related total avoided deaths, highlighting the importance of foreign GHG mitigation on US human health benefits. GHG mitigation in the US residential sector brings the largest co-benefits for PM2.5-related deaths (21% of total domestic co-benefits), and industry for O3 (17%). Monetized benefits, for avoided deaths from ozone, PM2.5, and heat stress from a related study, are $148 ($96-201) per ton CO2 at high valuation and $49 ($32-67) at low valuation, of which 36% are from foreign GHG reductions. These benefits likely exceed the marginal cost of GHG reductions in 2050. The US gains significantly greater co-benefits when coordinating GHG reductions with foreign countries. Similarly, previous studies estimating co-benefits locally or regionally may greatly underestimate the full co-benefits of coordinated global actions.},

  doi          = {10.1088/1748-9326/aa8f76},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1414549},
  journal      = {Environmental Research Letters},

  issn         = {1748-9326},

  number       = 11,

  volume       = 12,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017},

  month        = {Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017}

}

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