Tackling the chronic disease burden: are there co-benefits from climate policy measures?

Health co-benefits and trade-offs of carbon pricing: a narrative synthesis

Carbon pricing is a key component of current climate policy agendas. There are a variety of societal and health impacts from carbon pricing interventions (e.g. from improved air quality). A better understanding of potential health impacts and how they depend on context and policy design is crucial to improve the political feasibility and fairness of carbon pricing. Recent reviews have synthesized evidence on the effectiveness, equity and perceptions of carbon pricing and on the health co-benefits of mitigation. This review provides a narrative structured synthesis of the health impacts of carbon pricing. We identified 58 relevant publications of which all were modelling studies. We classify review findings into policy-relevant categories, synthesizing information on how carbon pricing affects health outcomes when implemented in different contexts, in isolation or as part of policy mixes. Findings suggest that internalization of health co-benefits in optimal price level estimates could lead to substantial mitigation in some regions. There are also opportunities to design carbon pricing to improve health outcomes, including through progressive or targeted use of revenues to improve food security, subsidize healthier diets or promote active transportation. Revenue use, price differentiation, market size and permit allocation of emissions trading schemes (ETS), and interaction with other public health or mitigation policies all influence health outcomes. Overall, the health impacts of carbon pricing are highly context-specific and further evidence is needed, particularly on health inequalities and ex-post analysis. However, existing evidence suggests that it is possible to design health-beneficial carbon pricing policies, thus enhancing policy acceptability and feasibility.

Health benefits from the reduction of PM2.5 concentrations under carbon tax and emission trading scheme: a case study in China

Climate policies could improve air quality, thereby generating health benefits and thus increasing labour input for economic growth. Nevertheless, health benefits are usually overlooked in evaluation frameworks of climate policies. In this paper, a dynamic recursive computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is adopted to define how climate policies are related to air pollution, namely [Formula: see text] concentrations. Health benefits of climate policies are divided into reduction of [Formula: see text]-related morbidity and mortality. The CGE model results show that both carbon tax and emission trading scheme (ETS) decrease morbidity and mortality; therefore, under climate policies, [Formula: see text]-related labour loss decreases, and thus increasing labour input triggers an economic boom. Carbon tax generates more health benefits in short term, while health benefits of ETS policy will gradually increase in long term. Hence, we conclude that regarding health benefits, a long-term ETS policy is preferable to a long-term carbon tax. This finding implies that the recently established nationwide ETS market in China is meaningful, as it will generate more health benefits in future. Nevertheless, the quantified health benefits in this paper still cannot compensate GDP loss induced by climate policy implementations, implying that it is a challenging task to unbiasedly model health benefits of climate policies. Hence, we have recommended that the scopes and contents of health benefits should be expanded in evaluations of climate policies.

Study on the Co-Benefits of Air Pollution Control and Carbon Reduction in the Yellow River Basin: An Assessment Based on a Spatial Econometric Model

To assess the green and low-carbon development of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) in China, this study utilizes an evaluation index system based on the framework of driving force, pressure, state, impacts, response, and management, and it measured the comprehensive scores of the co-benefits of carbon reduction and air pollution control in the YRB. The global Moran index was used to analyze the spatial correlation characteristics of co-benefits, and a generalized spatial measurement model was constructed to demonstrate their spatial spillover effects. The results show that the co-benefits steadily increased every year. The co-benefits had a significant positive spatial correlation and showed a development trend of “up–down–up”. According to the spillover effect test, the economic development level, education level, and intensity of environmental regulations had significant positive effects, while the level of urbanization and foreign investment had significant negative effects. Considering these results and the aim of promoting green and low-carbon development, clear detection of the spatial spillover characteristics of the co-benefits should be prioritized, followed by an understanding of the spatial transmission mechanism of carbon and air pollutant emission and transfer. Policy recommendations are also proposed including upgrading industrial structure, focusing on the development of modern services and high-tech industry, and strictly implementing the industrial environment access system.

Can a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tax on Food also Be Healthy and Equitable? A Systemised Review and Modelling Study from Aotearoa New Zealand

Policies to mitigate climate change are essential. The objective of this paper was to estimate the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) food taxes and assess whether such a tax could also have health benefits in Aotearoa NZ. We undertook a systemised review on GHG food taxes to inform four tax scenarios, including one combined with a subsidy. These scenarios were modelled to estimate lifetime impacts on quality-adjusted health years (QALY), health inequities by ethnicity, GHG emissions, health system costs and food costs to the individual. Twenty-eight modelling studies on food tax policies were identified. Taxes resulted in decreased consumption of the targeted foods (e.g., -15.4% in beef/ruminant consumption, N = 12 studies) and an average decrease of 8.3% in GHG emissions (N = 19 studies). The "GHG weighted tax on all foods" scenario had the largest health gains and costs savings (455,800 QALYs and NZD 8.8 billion), followed by the tax-fruit and vegetable subsidy scenario (410,400 QALYs and NZD 6.4 billion). All scenarios were associated with reduced GHG emissions and higher age standardised per capita QALYs for Māori. Applying taxes that target foods with high GHG emissions has the potential to be effective for reducing GHG emissions and to result in co-benefits for population health.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Health in the Countries of the European Union

In the current era of globalization, a clean environment remains a crucial factor for the health of the population. Thus, improving air quality is a major focus of environmental policies, as it affects all aspects of nature, including humans. For these reasons, it is appropriate to take into account the health risks posed by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions released into the atmosphere. With regard to global GHG emissions, there are concerns about the loss of protection of the ozone layer and it is very likely that climate change can be expected, which multiplies the environmental threat and has potentially serious global consequences. In this regard, it is important to pay increased attention to emissions that enter the atmosphere, which include countless toxic substances. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between selected GHG emissions and the health of the European Union (EU) population represented by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). This aim was achieved using several analytical procedures (descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, cluster analysis, and panel regression analysis), which included five environmental variables (carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) in CO₂ equivalent, nitrous oxide (N₂O) in CO₂ equivalent, hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) in CO₂ equivalent, sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) in CO₂ equivalent) and one health variable (DALYs). An emphasis was placed on the use of quantitative methods. The results showed that CO₂ emissions have a dominant position among selected GHG emissions. The revealed positive link between CO₂ and DALYs indicated that a decrease in CO₂ may be associated with a decrease in DALYs, but it is also true that this cannot be done without reducing emissions of other combustion products. In terms of CO₂, the least positive scores were observed in Luxembourg and Estonia. Germany had the lowest score of DALYs, representing the most positive health outcome in the EU. In terms of total GHG emissions, Ireland and Luxembourg were considered to be less positive countries compared to the other analyzed countries. Countries should focus on reducing GHG emissions in general, but from a health point of view, reducing CO₂ emissions seems to be the most beneficial.