Breathing in the benefits

The report argues that an accelerated phase-out of coal power in Alberta would significantly reduce premature deaths, emergency room visits, and asthma episodes, while providing billions in socio-economic value. By extrapolating data from Environment Canada's Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS), the authors demonstrate that a stepwise transition proposed by the Pembina Institute would more than double the health benefits of the 2012 federal regulations between 2015 and 2035.

• An accelerated stepwise phase-out of coal power in Alberta between 2015 and 2030 could more than double the health benefits of previous federal regulations, avoiding approximately 600 premature deaths, 500 ER visits and hospitalizations, 80,000 asthma episodes, and 2 million days of breathing difficulty.
• The socio-economic value of avoided health outcomes under the Pembina Institute's proposed accelerated phase-out schedule is estimated at nearly $3.1 billion.
• In 2014, coal plants in Alberta were responsible for 40% of sulphur dioxide (SO2), 11% of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 37% of mercury (Hg) emissions from all man-made sources in the province.
• Coal-fired generation is a dominant source of air contaminants in the Edmonton region, contributing approximately 60% of SO2 and 40% of NOx produced in that area.
• Older coal units (commissioned before the 2000s) are significantly more polluting than newer supercritical units; however, even the newer units emit more than six times as much NOx as a new combined cycle natural gas plant.
• Secondary fine particulate matter (PM2.5), formed from NOx and SO2 emissions, is identified as having a greater human health impact than primary PM emissions from the electricity sector.
• Extrapolated data suggests that in 2015, coal-fired generation in Alberta contributed to 92 premature deaths and health outcomes with a socio-economic value of approximately $461 million.
• The AESO Reference Case for phasing out coal by 2030 is estimated to avoid an additional 306 premature deaths over the 2015-2035 period compared to the updated RIAS federal regulation scenario.

APA

Israël, B., Perrotta, K., Vipond, J., Allard, L., & Foran, V. (2016). Breathing in the benefits. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Report-Breathing-in-the-Benefits-2016.pdf#new_tab

Chicago

Israël, Benjamin, Kim Perrotta, Joe Vipond, Leigh Allard, and Vanessa Foran. Breathing in the benefits. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2016. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Report-Breathing-in-the-Benefits-2016.pdf#new_tab.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Israël |first1=Benjamin |last2=Perrotta |first2=Kim |last3=Vipond |first3=Joe |last4=Allard |first4=Leigh |last5=Foran |first5=Vanessa |title=Breathing in the benefits |publisher=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |date=September 2016 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Report-Breathing-in-the-Benefits-2016.pdf#new_tab |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{isral2016breathing, author = {Israël, Benjamin and Perrotta, Kim and Vipond, Joe and Allard, Leigh and Foran, Vanessa}, title = {{Breathing in the benefits}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Report-Breathing-in-the-Benefits-2016.pdf#new_tab}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }