Global air quality and health co-benefits of mitigating near-term climate change through methane and black carbon emission controls

This research paper evaluates the air quality and health co-benefits of 14 emission control measures targeting black carbon, methane, and ozone precursors, finding that full implementation could significantly reduce global PM2.5 and ozone concentrations and prevent millions of premature deaths by 2030, with the majority of benefits occurring in Asia.

• Full implementation of 14 emission control measures targeting black carbon, methane, and ozone precursors could reduce global population-weighted average surface concentrations of PM2.5 by 23–34% and ozone by 7–17% by 2030. These reductions are estimated to avoid between 0.6 and 4.4 million annual premature deaths related to PM2.5 and 0.04 to 0.52 million annual premature deaths related to ozone globally in 2030.
• Over 80% of the estimated health benefits from these measures are expected to occur in Asia. Furthermore, black carbon (BC) mitigation measures alone are estimated to achieve approximately 98% of the total avoided deaths that would result from implementing both BC and methane mitigation measures.
• The emission control measures for methane and black carbon could potentially reverse increasing trends in air pollution concentrations and mortality in Africa and South, West, and Central Asia. These benefits are independent of carbon dioxide mitigation measures, though the authors note that benefits of BC measures are likely underestimated due to the exclusion of indoor exposures and limitations in model spatial resolution.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2012). Global air quality and health co-benefits of mitigating near-term climate change through methane and black carbon emission controls. https://www.sei.org/publications/global-air-quality-and-health-co-benefits-of-mitigating-near-term-climate-change-through-methane-and-black-carbon-emission-controls/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Global air quality and health co-benefits of mitigating near-term climate change through methane and black carbon emission controls. 2012. https://www.sei.org/publications/global-air-quality-and-health-co-benefits-of-mitigating-near-term-climate-change-through-methane-and-black-carbon-emission-controls/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Global air quality and health co-benefits of mitigating near-term climate change through methane and black carbon emission controls |date=15 February 2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/global-air-quality-and-health-co-benefits-of-mitigating-near-term-climate-change-through-methane-and-black-carbon-emission-controls/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2012global, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Global air quality and health co-benefits of mitigating near-term climate change through methane and black carbon emission controls}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2012}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/global-air-quality-and-health-co-benefits-of-mitigating-near-term-climate-change-through-methane-and-black-carbon-emission-controls/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }