Co-Benefits to Children’s Health of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

While various policies have been implemented globally to mitigate climate change and reduce exposure to toxic air pollutants, policy assessments have considered few if any of the benefits to children. To comprehensively assess the co-benefits of climate change mitigation to children, we expanded the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental health perspectives Vol. 128; no. 7; p. 77006
Main Authors: Perera, Frederica, Cooley, David, Berberian, Alique, Mills, David, Kinney, Patrick
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01.07.2020
Environmental Health Perspectives
Subjects:
Air Pollutants
Air pollution
Air Pollution - prevention & control
Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data
Air pollution control
Analysis
Asthma
Auctions
Autism
Bronchitis
Carbon dioxide
Child
Child Health
Childhood asthma
Children
Childrens health
Climate change
Climate change mitigation
Conservation of Natural Resources
Cost analysis
Cost estimates
Electric power
Electricity
Electricity distribution
Emission standards
Emissions
Emissions control
Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data
Environmental Policy
Environmental protection
Exposure
Fossil fuels
Global temperature changes
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse Gases
Humans
Infant mortality
Low birth weight
Mapping
Outdoor air quality
Particulate emissions
Particulate Matter
Pollutants
Premature birth
Prenatal experience
Respiratory diseases
Systematic review
New York
United Kingdom
Massachusetts
Vermont
Rhode Island
United States > US
Maine
Delaware
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
New Hampshire
Connecticut
Maryland
Virginia
ISSN:0091-6765, 1552-9924, 1552-9924
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:While various policies have been implemented globally to mitigate climate change and reduce exposure to toxic air pollutants, policy assessments have considered few if any of the benefits to children. To comprehensively assess the co-benefits of climate change mitigation to children, we expanded the suite of adverse health outcomes in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) to include additional outcomes associated with prenatal and childhood exposure to ambient fine particulate matter ( ). We applied this newly expanded program to an assessment of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the United States' first regional market-based regulatory program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector within the Northeast. We used calculated changes in ambient concentrations for the period 2009-2014, with newly incorporated concentration-response (C-R) functions to quantify changes in the incidence of preterm birth (PTB), term low birth weight (TLBW), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and asthma. These outcomes are causally or likely to be causally related to exposure. Cost per case estimates were incorporated to monetize those changes in incidence. The estimated avoided cases of adverse child health outcomes included 537 asthma cases, 112 preterm births, 98 cases of ASD, and 56 cases of TLBW, with an associated avoided cost estimate ranging from $191 to $350 million. In a previous analysis of health benefits of RGGI, the only benefits accruing to children were limited to prevented cases of infant mortality and respiratory illnesses, with a monetized impact of $8.1 million-only 2-4% of the new results attributable to RGGI. The results of this innovative analysis indicate that RGGI has provided substantial child health benefits beyond those initially considered. Moreover, those health benefits had significant estimated economic value. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP6706.
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ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/EHP6706