Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs

The report estimates that four Canadian environmental regulations—the Coal Phase-Out, Clean Electricity, Volatile Organic Compound (VOC), and Methane Regulations—will generate between $18 billion and $21 billion in direct health benefits by 2050. These savings, primarily from reduced respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses caused by pollutants like NOx, SOx, and particulate matter, are equivalent to the cost of 2,200 to 2,500 doctors over 36 years. The authors argue that these figures are conservative as they exclude broader climate-related health gains and that policymakers should maintain these commitments despite current economic pressures.

• Four specific federal regulations—the Coal Phase-Out Regulations, Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Regulations, and Methane Regulations—are projected to provide between $18,000,000,000 and $21,000,000,000 in direct health benefits by 2050.
• The healthcare savings generated by these four regulations are sufficient to fund between 2,200 and 2,500 doctors over the 36-year period covered by the regulations.
• The estimated health savings are considered narrow because they focus mainly on respiratory benefits from reducing key pollutants and do not include broader benefits such as greenhouse gas reductions or agricultural improvements, except in the case of Methane Regulations.
• The report identifies several air pollutants and their associated health risks: VOCs cause irritation and cancer; particulate matter (PM) leads to heart or lung disease and premature death; nitrogen oxides (NOx) cause respiratory irritation and fluid build-up in lungs; sulfur compounds (SOx) cause respiratory problems; ozone (O3) increases cardiorespiratory mortality; and mercury (Hg) damages brain function in fetuses and children.
• The analysis removed government 'discount rates' from its calculations to avoid reducing the monetary value of future health and environmental benefits, arguing that such rates 'discount the value of health and environmental benefits for future generations'.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (n.d.). Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Healthy-Wealthy-Wise-Condensed-Report.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs. n.d. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Healthy-Wealthy-Wise-Condensed-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Healthy-Wealthy-Wise-Condensed-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironmentndhealthy, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How environmental policies lower health costs}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Healthy-Wealthy-Wise-Condensed-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }