Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade
Abstract
Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions, air quality and health have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM_(2.5)) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM_(2.5) pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM_(2.5) pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM_(2.5) pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.
Additional Information
© 2017 Macmillan Publishers. Received 07 March 2016 Accepted 10 February 2017 Published online 29 March 2017. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41625020, 41629501, 41422502, 41222036 and 41541039) and China's National Basic Research Program (2014CB441301 and 2014CB441303). Q.Z. and K.H. are supported by the Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality and the Cyrus Tang Foundation. The work at Argonne National Laboratory acknowledges the Modeling, Analysis and Predictability (MAP) programme of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Proposal No. 08-MAP-0143, for which we thank D. Considine (NASA) and M. Chin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). H.H. acknowledges the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71322304). Z.L. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41501605). D.G. acknowledges the support from the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0602604), the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/L016028/1), the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/N00714X/1), and the British Academy (AF150310). We thank T. Xue for discussions on statistics. Author Contributions Q.Z., J.L. and K.H. conceived the study. Q.Z. led the study. Z.Lu and D.G.S. provided emissions data. M.B., A.v.D. and R.V.M. provided PM2.5 exposure data. D.T., H.Z., T.F. and D.G. calculated emissions. G.G. conducted GEOS-Chem simulations. X.J. conducted estimates of health impacts. Q.Z., X.J., S.J.D., G.G. and J.L. interpreted the data. Q.Z., X.J., D.T., S.J.D., H.Z. and G.G. wrote the paper with input from all co-authors.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - nature21712-s1.pdf
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Supplemental Material - nature21712-s3.xlsx
Supplemental Material - nature21712-s4.xlsx
Supplemental Material - nature21712-s5.xlsx
Supplemental Material - nature21712-s6.xlsx
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 75645
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170403-133412378
- 41625020
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 41629501
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 41422502
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 41222036
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 41541039
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 2014CB441301
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 2014CB441303
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality
- Cyrus Tang Foundation
- 08-MAP-0143
- NASA
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- 71322304
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 41501605
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 2016YFA0602604
- National Key Basic Research Program of China
- ES/L016028/1
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- NE/N00714X/1
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- AF150310
- British Academy
- Created
-
2017-04-04Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field