Health impacts of atmospheric pollution in a changing climate

The paper examines the severe health and economic burdens of air pollution, noting that global premature deaths could double by 2050. It details the Impact Pathway Approach (IPA) for monetizing health damages and analyzes European industrial emissions data, identifying the power generating sector as the largest contributor to damage costs. The authors propose enhancing these assessments by integrating satellite-based Earth observation data from the MACC/Copernicus services to reduce model errors and provide higher resolution global and regional air quality analysis.

• Global annual premature deaths attributed to poor air quality are currently estimated between 2.6 and 4.4 million, with projections suggesting these figures will double by 2050 compared to 2010 levels.
• The economic burden of anthropogenic ambient air pollution in Europe was estimated at approximately 766 billion Euros for the year 2000, while later assessments for the WHO Europe region estimated costs at 1,100 billion US$ in 2005 and 1,300 billion US$ in 2010.
• Climate change is expected to worsen air pollution burdens, specifically by increasing the frequency of stagnant air days.
• Analysis of 2009 data from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) indicates that cumulative damage costs from industrial emissions ranged between 102 and 169 billion Euros, with the power generating sector being the largest contributor at 66–112 billion Euros.
• A small minority of industrial facilities cause the majority of air pollution damage; specifically, 2% of the approximately 10,000 reported facilities are responsible for 50% of the total damage.
• The authors propose a multidisciplinary approach that integrates MACC/Copernicus Earth observation data with an integrated assessment model to calculate health impacts and damage costs at higher spatial and temporal resolutions than traditional inventory-based models.

APA

Vogel, L., Hey, J. V., Faria, S. H., & Spadaro, J. V. (2015). Health impacts of atmospheric pollution in a changing climate. Basque Centre for Climate Change. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201603101240131657878189.pdf

Chicago

Vogel, Leif, Joshua Vande Hey, Sérgio H. Faria, and Joseph V. Spadaro. Health impacts of atmospheric pollution in a changing climate. Basque Centre for Climate Change, 2015. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201603101240131657878189.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vogel |first1=Leif |last2=Hey |first2=Joshua Vande |last3=Faria |first3=Sérgio H. |last4=Spadaro |first4=Joseph V. |title=Health impacts of atmospheric pollution in a changing climate |publisher=Basque Centre for Climate Change |date=July 2015 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201603101240131657878189.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vogel2015health, author = {Vogel, Leif and Hey, Joshua Vande and Faria, Sérgio H. and Spadaro, Joseph V.}, title = {{Health impacts of atmospheric pollution in a changing climate}}, institution = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2015}, month = jul, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201603101240131657878189.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }