In a groundbreaking report released by the 全球健康与污染联盟, 亚洲空气质素, 电子游戏软件的 席勒综合科学与社会电子游戏正规平台所, researchers place eliminating the burning of coal and fossil fuels at the top of 23 practical interventions that can reduce air pollution to both improve public health and combat climate change.
这份报告, “空气污染干预:寻求气候与健康之间的交集。,” finds that "the single most effective action to achieve co-benefits that improve health and impact climate change is to phase out the use of coal and 其他 fossil fuels, 比如褐煤和焦油产品, 用于电力生产.”
The World 健康 Organization estimates that ambient air pollution is responsible for 4.每年200万人死亡, with about 91 percent of the world's population living in places with unhealthy air quality. 另外, 越来越多的证据表明, long term exposure to air pollution may worsen outcomes for patients infected by COVID-19.
菲利普·兰德里根
“Climate change and air pollution are major threats to human health and economic development that must be addressed. COVID大流行大大增加了风险,报告的合著者、生物学教授菲尔·兰德里根说, M.D.他是席勒电子游戏正规平台所所长 全球污染与健康观察站. “It is essential to understand the extent to which these issues can be tackled together. Policymakers can use this report to prioritize investments that are the most effective in generating co-benefits across health and climate.”
While some efforts—namely those that replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources—improve both local health and favorably impact climate change, 其他, 通常在政治上受欢迎的节目在任何方面都价值有限.
"There has been an assumption that adverse conditions impacting climate change and air pollution are the same thing. 这并不一定是正确的，”该公司董事会主席理查德•富勒(Richard Fuller)表示 全球健康与污染联盟 也是该报告的合著者之一. “我们想看看重叠的地方在哪里, where investments can be directed that will improve health and also impact climate change."
这份报告's authors found that converting total power production from coal to renewable sources can be highly cost effective and fairly easy to implement, 如果这些变化是在新工厂投产时进行的. 另一方面, 电子游戏正规平台小组发现，森林防火, 虽然从健康和气候的角度来看都是有益的, 是困难的，可能是昂贵的.
The Top Five most effective interventions that improve both health—by reducing particulate matter smaller than 2.5微米(或PM 2).5)—and climate—by reducing carbon dioxide emissions—according to the report, are:
- 以可再生能源替代煤炭发电
- Replacing diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles in both the public and private sectors
- 消除不受控制的柴油排放
- 防止焚烧农作物
- 防止森林火灾
“Climate change and air pollution are major threats to human health and economic development that must be addressed. COVID大流行大大增加了风险. It is essential to understand the extent to which these issues can be tackled together. Policymakers can use this report to prioritize investments that are the most effective in generating co-benefits across health and climate.”
兰德里根指出，美国正在采取行动.S. has reduced levels of the six major air pollutants by 70 percent since passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. 西欧、日本和澳大利亚也取得了类似的进展. 通过去除汽油中的铅, the USA and 其他 countries around the world have virtually eliminated airborne lead pollution. 这些行动挽救了数十万人的生命, 减少健康差距, 提高了孩子们的智力.
同时, 监管环境也产生了巨大的经济效益, 兰德里根说. 在美国.S., each dollar invested in air pollution control since 1970 has produced an estimated return of $30 (range, $4–88). 在同一时期，美国的经济增长.S. 国内生产总值增长了250%, 这样就掩盖了耳熟能详的事实, 但毫无根据的说法是，污染控制会减少就业，抑制经济增长.
“污染是可以预防的，”兰德里根说. “像美国这样的国家的成功.S. 在控制污染方面支持这一前提. This report builds on that experience and provides countries with a roadmap that will help them to identify the most effective and cost-effective strategies for controlling pollution.”
Effective pollution interventions include upgrading and expanding mass transit systems, 降低燃料中的硫含量, 将燃煤发电厂转化为天然气, 重新设计城市地区以促进步行社区. 该报告的作者发现，提高燃料质量, 比如满足欧盟标准的要求, 能否减少颗粒物的排放, 二氧化氮, 和其他有害健康的污染物, 但对气候变化的影响有限. Improved biofuel cookstoves can provide some relief from smoke in the immediate vicinity, but are not usually adequate on their own to achieve healthy household air quality.
具体来说，电子游戏正规平台人员试图确定:
- 哪些干预措施能有效减少空气污染和提高健康质量
- 哪些干预措施可以影响气候变化
- 哪些干预措施可以两全其美.
“The economic shutdown that has followed the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a remarkable worldwide reduction in ambient air pollution. 这些减少是如此之大，以至于从外太空都能看到. 这些巨大的进步表明，更清洁的空气是可能的. 它们使我们能够想象一个永恒的世界, improvements in air quality and wide-scale reductions in pollution-related disease.”
为遏制冠状病毒传播而封锁的城市空气更清洁, 卫星图像和地面照片证明了这一点, illustrates not only how significantly power plant generation and vehicular exhaust contribute to air pollution but also how quickly air quality improves with reductions in carbon burning. 据估计，更清洁的空气挽救了11人的生命,今年4月，欧洲有1000人死亡，77人死亡,1月和2月中国有1000人, 兰德里根说.
“The economic shutdown that has followed the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a remarkable worldwide reduction in ambient air pollution,兰德里根说. “这些减少是如此之大，以至于从外太空都能看到. 这些巨大的进步表明，更清洁的空气是可能的. 它们使我们能够想象一个永恒的世界, improvements in air quality and wide-scale reductions in pollution-related disease.”
通过诸如《电子游戏软件》之类的报告, 兰德里根说 the Observatory is working to persuade world leaders to take advantage of the wide scale demand for clean air that has emerged in the COVID-19 pandemic and to “seize this unique opportunity to pivot away from fossil fuels to renewables.
“This is the perfect moment to make such a transition because the world has experienced very rapid growth in wind and solar energy over the past decade,他说. “The fraction of electricity generated globally from wind and solar power is now 18 percent—up from only 4 percent in 2010. 可再生能源的成本效益也大大提高. The cost of producing electricity from solar cells has fallen in the past decade by 81 percent, 从陆上风力减少46%, 海上风电减少44%. It is now cheaper in many countries to generate electricity from renewables than from any fossil fuel.”
Air Pollution Interventions was funded by a grant from the Clean Air Fund and produced by 全球健康与污染联盟, AirQualityAsia and the 席勒综合科学与社会电子游戏正规平台所 at 电子游戏软件, 由净土公司赞助.
更多信息和完整报告可在 全球健康与污染联盟网站.
Ed Hayward |大学传播| 2020年6月