Carbon Pricing, Climate Change, and Air Quality

The briefing examines the shared origins of air pollution and climate change, primarily fossil fuel combustion, and advocates for integrated policy frameworks. It details the significant health and economic burdens of air pollution, particularly in urban areas and for vulnerable groups. The text demonstrates that the health co-benefits of climate mitigation, such as carbon pricing, often outweigh the policy costs. It provides examples of coordinated efforts in Chile, California, the EU, Madrid, and London, while warning that uncoordinated policies—such as incentivizing diesel vehicles for lower CO2 or installing SO2 filters that reduce plant efficiency—can create counterproductive outcomes.

• Air pollution is a major global health risk, causing approximately 7 million premature deaths annually. In 2013, it was responsible for one in ten deaths worldwide and resulted in an estimated $225 billion loss in labour income for the global economy.
• Urban areas are critical air pollution hotspots; over 80% of city dwellers are exposed to air quality levels exceeding WHO limits, rising to 98% in low-income countries. Cities contribute more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and generate about 80% of global GDP.
• Carbon pricing and climate policies can yield significant health co-benefits that often exceed the costs of the policies themselves. Research indicates the ratio of health co-benefit to climate change mitigation cost ranges between 1.4 and 2.45, with air quality co-benefits estimated between $2 and $196 per ton of CO2.
• Coordinated policy approaches can increase political acceptance by linking long-term global climate goals with immediate, tangible local health benefits. Examples of such integration include Chile's green tax on electricity generation, which taxes both greenhouse gases and local pollutants, and California's coordinated cap-and-trade and air pollution protection laws.
• Uncoordinated policies can lead to 'lock-in' of harmful technologies or create new pollution problems. For instance, reducing only certain pollutants like NOx and SOx without addressing VOCs and CO can increase surface ozone and smog, a phenomenon observed in some Chinese cities.
• Specific examples of policy trade-offs include the EU's past incentivization of diesel vehicles to lower CO2, which increased PMx and NOx emissions, and the installation of SO2 filters in coal plants that improve air quality but reduce facility efficiency, thereby increasing CO2 emissions per MWh.

APA

Climate Strategies (2019). Carbon Pricing, Climate Change, and Air Quality. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Carbon-Pricing-Climate-Change-and-Air-Quality.pdf

Chicago

Climate Strategies. Carbon Pricing, Climate Change, and Air Quality. 2019. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Carbon-Pricing-Climate-Change-and-Air-Quality.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Strategies |title=Carbon Pricing, Climate Change, and Air Quality |date=December 2019 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Carbon-Pricing-Climate-Change-and-Air-Quality.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatestrategies2019carbon, author = {{Climate Strategies}}, title = {{Carbon Pricing, Climate Change, and Air Quality}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2019}, month = dec, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Carbon-Pricing-Climate-Change-and-Air-Quality.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }