A wedge-based approach to estimating health co-benefits of climate change mitigation activities in the United States

Balbus, John; Greenblatt, Jeffery B.; Chari, Ramya; Millstein, Dev; Ebi, Kristie L.

doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1262-5

Cited by 37 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our estimated health‐related costs are broadly consistent with other studies investigating different aspects of the national economic impacts of climate‐sensitive events (Balbus et al, ; Martinich & Crimmins, ). The health‐related costs estimated here are of similar magnitude as the $14.1 billion estimated in the prior analysis encompassing six events from 2000 to 2009, though differing geographies and time horizons preclude a direct cost comparison (Knowlton et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Estimating the Health‐Related Costs of 10 Climate‐Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change threatens human health, but there remains a lack of evidence on the economic toll of climate‐sensitive public health impacts. We characterize human mortality and morbidity costs associated with 10 climate‐sensitive case study events spanning 11 US states in 2012: wildfires in Colorado and Washington, ozone air pollution in Nevada, extreme heat in Wisconsin, infectious disease outbreaks of tick‐borne Lyme disease in Michigan and mosquito‐borne West Nile virus in Texas, extreme weather in Ohio, impacts of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York, allergenic oak pollen in North Carolina, and harmful algal blooms on the Florida coast. Applying a consistent economic valuation approach to published studies and state estimates, we estimate total health‐related costs from 917 deaths, 20,568 hospitalizations, and 17,857 emergency department visits of $10.0 billion in 2018 dollars, with a sensitivity range of $2.7–24.6 billion. Our estimates indicate that the financial burden of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and associated medical care is a key dimension of the overall economic impact of climate‐sensitive events. We found that mortality costs (i.e., the value of a statistical life) of $8.4 billion exceeded morbidity costs and lost wages ($1.6 billion combined). By better characterizing health damages in economic terms, this work helps to shed light on the burden climate‐sensitive events already place on U.S. public health each year. In doing so, we provide a conceptual framework for broader estimation of climate‐sensitive health‐related costs. The high health‐related costs associated with climate‐sensitive events highlight the importance of actions to mitigate climate change and adapt to its unavoidable impacts.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Global Change Research Program, 2018). The evidence base for national climate-sensitive health-related costs is growing (Balbus et al, 2014;Martinich & Crimmins, 2019;U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Health‐Related Costs of 10 Climate‐Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some studies have shown that even a small increase in air pollutants would lead to increased health costs. For example, the study of Balbus et al [36] on the transportation, construction and power sector in the US revealed that reducing PM 2.5 emissions by 2020 would reduce healthcare costs from US $6 billion to US $3 billion. Other studies had similar results.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Effects of Energy Intensive Sectors and the Potential Health Co-Benefits of a Low Carbon Industrial Transition in China

Liao

Liu

2019

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The issues of environmental pollution and its effects on health have become increasingly serious in China. Energy intensive sectors are not only the main energy consumers, but also the main sources of air pollution. Analyzing the health effects of energy intensive sectors and the potential health co-benefits of a low carbon industrial transition is of great importance for promoting China’s air pollution control. Methods: This study used the exposure-response (ER) relationship model and inhalation factor methods to quantitatively analyze the health effects of air pollution and forecast the potential health co-benefits in the power and steel sectors. Results: The results showed that in 2016 SO2 and PM2.5 emissions caused about 850,000 premature deaths, and 10 million cases of respiratory diseases and chest discomfort, resulting in health-related economic losses of 1.2 trillion Yuan, accounting for 1.6% of the GDP. Meanwhile, demand control in consumption could significantly reduce SO2 emissions in the power and steel sectors, thus offering significant health co-benefits. However, there was still some uncertainty regarding the reduction of PM2.5 emissions in the steel sector. Conclusions: There is a need to take advantage of the health co-benefits of emission reduction in energy intensive sectors and to adopt flexible means to stimulate their green transformation.

show abstract

“…There are only a few studies that evaluate the health co-benefits in monetary terms arising from the reductions in GHGs. Examples of such studies include the cement industry [ 15 ], the power or energy sector [ 16 , 17 ], fuel switching households [ 18 ], and the transportation and energy sectors [ 19 , 20 ]. Some studies evaluate the health co-benefits for the emission reductions of GHGs for a whole country, sub-national regions, or regions in general, and include South Korea [ 21 ], Mexico [ 22 ], the north-western region of the US [ 23 ], California [ 24 ], Sweden [ 25 ], China [ 26 ], and Europe [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Benefits and Health Co-Benefits of GHG Reduction for Taiwan’s Industrial Sector under a Carbon Charge in 2023–2030

Liou

Huang

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the monetary GHG reduction benefits and health co-benefits for the industrial sector under the imposition of a carbon charge in Taiwan. The evaluation proceeds from 2023–2030 for different rates of carbon charge for the GHGs by a model of “Taiwan Economic Input Output Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Value” constructed in this study. It is innovative in the literature to simulate the benefits of GHG reductions and health co-benefits of air pollutions for the industrial sector under the imposition of a carbon charge comprehensively. The results consistently show benefits whether the charge is imposed on the scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions or on the scope 1 emissions only. The health co-benefits are on average about 5 times those of GHG reductions benefits in 2023–2030. The average total benefits with the summation of GHG reduction benefits and health co-benefits are 821.9 million US dollars and 975.1 US million US dollars per year, respectively. However, both the GHG reduction benefits and health co-benefits are consistently increasing at a decreasing rate in 2023–2030. The increased multiple for the rate of the carbon charge is higher than the increased multiple of the total benefits and this result shows that the increase of the carbon charge becomes less effective.

show abstract

A wedge-based approach to estimating health co-benefits of climate change mitigation activities in the United States

Abstract: A wedge-based approach to estimating health co-benefits of climate change mitigation activities in the United States

Cited by 37 publications

References 8 publications

Estimating the Health‐Related Costs of 10 Climate‐Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012

Estimating the Health‐Related Costs of 10 Climate‐Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012

Health Effects of Energy Intensive Sectors and the Potential Health Co-Benefits of a Low Carbon Industrial Transition in China

Evaluation of Benefits and Health Co-Benefits of GHG Reduction for Taiwan’s Industrial Sector under a Carbon Charge in 2023–2030

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About