Aerosols, Global Climate, and the Human Health Co-Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation - Aerosols: Measurement, Dosimetry, and Health Effects - page 345

13 Aerosols, Global Climate,

and the Human Health
Co-Beneits of Climate
Change Mitigation* ,†

George D. Thurston and Michelle L. Bell

CONTENTS
13.1 Overview............................................................................................................................... 345
13.2 Aerosols and Climate Change .............................................................................................. 346
13.3 Particulate Matter Health Effects ......................................................................................... 346
13.3.1 Short-Term Exposure Effects of PM......................................................................... 347
13.3.2 Long-Term Exposure Effects of PM ......................................................................... 348
13.3.3 Health Effects of PM Constituents ........................................................................... 349
13.4 Sulfates and Geoengineering of Climate Change ................................................................ 349
13.5 Ancillary Health Beneits of Climate Change Mitigation.................................................... 350
13.5.1 Framework of Climate Mitigation Co-Beneits Assessment .................................... 350
13.5.2 Studies of Health and Air Pollution Beneits of Climate Change Mitigation .......... 351
13.5.3 Monetary Valuations of Mitigation Co-Beneits ...................................................... 352
13.6 Implications .......................................................................................................................... 353
References...................................................................................................................................... 354

13.1 OVERVIEW
Aerosols are airborne suspensions of particulate matter (PM). They can have effects on both human
health and climate. Indeed, greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation steps can also provide more imme-
diate and localized health co-beneits to the localities that implement these mitigation measures,
especially in terms of reductions in PM air pollution and their associated adverse health impacts.
These co-beneits, if fully considered and quantiied, can potentially be a signiicant motivator to
encourage the near-term adoption of GHG measures. In addition, changes in aerosol concentra-
tions can result in their own short-term effects on climate change. In this chapter, we introduce the
principles of aerosol climate change and health effects, and present a framework for the estimation
of the ancillary health co-beneits that can be derived from various GHG strategies that result in
reductions of PM air pollution.

* Competing interests : The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
† Authors' contributions : Both authors made substantial contributions to the conception and design of this paper, were
involved in drafting and revising the manuscript, and have approved the inal version.

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