The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP), AirQualityAsia and The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College today released an evaluation of 22 practical interventions undertaken to reduce air pollution. While some efforts that replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources improve both local health and favorably impact climate change, other, often politically popular programs are of limited value on either front.
“There has been an assumption that adverse conditions impacting climate change and air pollution are the same thing. This is not necessarily true,” says Richard Fuller, Board Chair of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution and a co-author of the report. “We wanted to see where the overlaps are, where investments can be directed that will improve health and also impact climate change.”
The report, Air Pollution Interventions: Seeking the Intersection Between Climate and Health, 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 other fossil fuels, such as lignite and tar products) for power production.”
The Top Five most effective interventions that improve both health, by reducing PM2.5, and climate, by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report are:
- Replacing coal with renewable sources of energy for total power production;
- Replacing diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles in both the public and private sector;
- Eliminating uncontrolled diesel emissions;
- Preventing crop burning;
- Preventing forest fires.
The report’s authors found that converting total power production from coal to renewable sources can be highly cost effective and easy to implement, if the changes are made when new plants are brought online.
GAHP
GAHP is a collaborative body made up of more than 60 members and dozens of observers that advocates for resources and solutions to pollution problems. In 2012, Pure Earth initiated the alliance together with representatives from The World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, Ministries of Environment and Health of many low and middle-income countries to formulate strategies to address pollution and health at scale. In 2019, GAHP incorporated as a foundation in Geneva, Switzerland.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Top Five Air Pollution Actions to Improve Health, Climate
The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP), AirQualityAsia and The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College today released an evaluation of 22 practical interventions undertaken to reduce air pollution. While some efforts that replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources improve both local health and favorably impact climate change, other, often politically popular programs are of limited value on either front.
“There has been an assumption that adverse conditions impacting climate change and air pollution are the same thing. This is not necessarily true,” says Richard Fuller, Board Chair of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution and a co-author of the report. “We wanted to see where the overlaps are, where investments can be directed that will improve health and also impact climate change.”
The report, Air Pollution Interventions: Seeking the Intersection Between Climate and Health, 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 other fossil fuels, such as lignite and tar products) for power production.”
The Top Five most effective interventions that improve both health, by reducing PM2.5, and climate, by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report are:
The report’s authors found that converting total power production from coal to renewable sources can be highly cost effective and easy to implement, if the changes are made when new plants are brought online.
GAHP
GAHP is a collaborative body made up of more than 60 members and dozens of observers that advocates for resources and solutions to pollution problems. In 2012, Pure Earth initiated the alliance together with representatives from The World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, Ministries of Environment and Health of many low and middle-income countries to formulate strategies to address pollution and health at scale. In 2019, GAHP incorporated as a foundation in Geneva, Switzerland.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.