Global Air Quality and Health Co-benefits of Mitigating Near-Term Climate Change through Methane and Black Carbon Emission Controls

Abstract

In addition to climate benefits, our findings indicate that the methane and BC emission control measures would have substantial co-benefits for air quality and public health worldwide, potentially reversing trends of increasing air pollution concentrations and mortality in Africa and South, West, and Central Asia. These projected benefits are independent of carbon dioxide mitigation measures. Benefits of BC measures are underestimated because we did not account for benefits from reduced indoor exposures and because outdoor exposure estimates were limited by model spatial resolution.

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Affiliated Institutions

• Stockholm Environment Institute GB
• University of York GB
• King's College London GB
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography US
• University of California, San Diego US
• Columbia University US
• Joint Research Centre IT
• Environmental Protection Agency US
• United Nations Environment Programme KE
• Goddard Institute for Space Studies US
• Middlebury College US
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill US
• International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis AT

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