BACKGROUND: Most public-health assessments of climate-control policies have focused on long-term impacts of global change. Our interdisciplinary working group assesses likely short-term impacts on public health. METHODS: We combined models of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and associated atmospheric particulate-matter (PM) concentration under two different forecasts: business-as-usual (BAU); and a hypothetical climate-policy scenario, where developed and developing countries undertake significant reductions in carbon emissions. FINDINGS: We predict that by 2020, 700,000 avoidable deaths (90% CI 385,000-1,034,000) will occur annually as a result of additional PM exposure under the BAU forecasts when compared with the climate-policy scenario. From 2000 to 2020, the cumulative impact on public health related to the difference in PM exposure could total 8 million deaths globally (90% CI 4.4-11.9 million). In the USA alone, the avoidable number of annual deaths from PM exposure in 2020 (without climate-change-control policy) would equal in magnitude deaths associated with human immunodeficiency diseases or all liver diseases in 1995. INTERPRETATION: The mortality estimates are indicative of the magnitude of the likely health benefits of the climate-policy scenario examined and are not precise predictions of avoidable deaths. While characterized by considerable uncertainty, the short-term public-health impacts of reduced PM exposures associated with greenhouse-gas reductions are likely to be substantial even under the most conservative set of assumptions.
BACKGROUND: Most public-health assessments of climate-control policies have focused on long-term impacts of global change. Our interdisciplinary working group assesses likely short-term impacts on public health. METHODS: We combined models of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and associated atmospheric particulate-matter (PM) concentration under two different forecasts: business-as-usual (BAU); and a hypothetical climate-policy scenario, where developed and developing countries undertake significant reductions in carbon emissions. FINDINGS: We predict that by 2020, 700,000 avoidable deaths (90% CI 385,000-1,034,000) will occur annually as a result of additional PM exposure under the BAU forecasts when compared with the climate-policy scenario. From 2000 to 2020, the cumulative impact on public health related to the difference in PM exposure could total 8 million deaths globally (90% CI 4.4-11.9 million). In the USA alone, the avoidable number of annual deaths from PM exposure in 2020 (without climate-change-control policy) would equal in magnitude deaths associated with humanimmunodeficiency diseases or all liver diseases in 1995. INTERPRETATION: The mortality estimates are indicative of the magnitude of the likely health benefits of the climate-policy scenario examined and are not precise predictions of avoidable deaths. While characterized by considerable uncertainty, the short-term public-health impacts of reduced PM exposures associated with greenhouse-gas reductions are likely to be substantial even under the most conservative set of assumptions.
Authors: Kim Knowlton; Joyce E Rosenthal; Christian Hogrefe; Barry Lynn; Stuart Gaffin; Richard Goldberg; Cynthia Rosenzweig; Kevin Civerolo; Jia-Yeong Ku; Patrick L Kinney Journal: Environ Health Perspect Date: 2004-11 Impact factor: 9.031
Authors: Michelle L Bell; Devra L Davis; Luis A Cifuentes; Alan J Krupnick; Richard D Morgenstern; George D Thurston Journal: Environ Health Date: 2008-07-31 Impact factor: 5.984
Authors: J Jason West; Steven J Smith; Raquel A Silva; Vaishali Naik; Yuqiang Zhang; Zachariah Adelman; Meridith M Fry; Susan Anenberg; Larry W Horowitz; Jean-Francois Lamarque Journal: Nat Clim Chang Date: 2013-10-01