The Rising Cost of Ambient Air Pollution thus Far in the 21st Century

Abstract

JT03417335 Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. ENV/WKP(2017)11 Unclassified English-Or. English ENV/WKP(2017)11 2 OECD ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal author(s) are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language-English or Frenchwith a summary in the other language.

Policies, regulatory framework and enforcement for air quality management: The case of China

“…In 2015, it is estimated that an equivalent of 8.4% of the Chinese GDP, i.e. 1.6 million USD, was lost in the form of premature deaths from ambient PM and ozone pollution, by far the largest among 41 OECD and BRIICS economies (Roy and Braathen, 2017).…”

Human Acceleration of the Nitrogen Cycle: Managing Risks and Uncertainty

“…When adding ground-level ozone pollution, of which nitrogen is also a precursor, health costs amount to USD 1.9 trillion in OECD countries and USD 3.2 trillion in BRIICS countries (Roy and Braathen, 2017).…”

“…The health impact of air pollution by nitrogen incurs social costs that are already in the hundreds of billions of USD. This is because nitrogen compounds represent a significant part of urban pollution with fine particles (PM 2.5 ) whose health cost in terms of premature deaths is estimated at USD 1.8 trillion in OECD countries and USD 3.0 trillion in the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa) (Roy and Braathen, 2017). For example, nitrogen-containing aerosols accounted for an estimated 30% of PM 2.5 emissions measured in Beijing from June 2014 to April 2015 (Huang et al, 2017).…”

Clean power for a cool planet

“…As SOEs have a strong foothold in electricity markets, they represent an opportunity for governments to redirect electricity-related activities towards more sustainable sources of electricity. Yet, recent evidence suggest that SOEs are still continuing to invest in coal power, to a greater extent than their private counterparts, thereby increasing the risk of stranding assets (Prag, Röttgers and Scherrer, 2018 [54]). There is therefore further scope for governments to use their power of influence in these SOEs to further accelerate the uptake of low-carbon sources of energy as well as the phase-out of coal.…”