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  • We are experienced in assessing the human health benefits of pollution-reducing policies.

    • Example projects include developing/applying benefits tools from United States Environmental Protection Agency (e.g., BenMAP-CE, Co-Benefits Risk Assessment) and similar applications (e.g., BeneTool™ software) for India.

  • Benefits assessment entails:

    • Combining information on local air quality and population with epidemiological and economic databases 

    • Linking ambient air quality to health outcomes and calculating the economic value of these health outcomes 

  • Results inform decision-making (figure below).

    • In the climate change context, benefits tools can assess co-benefits of mitigation policies and can be expanded to include climate pathways (e.g., extreme heat).

Health and Economic Impacts of Air Quality

How can estimated benefits help design effective air pollution policies?

In India, people are exposed to high air pollution levels that impacts public health and the economy. In a recent study, we find significant benefits to human health and the economy from reducing PMâ‚‚.â‚… levels to ambient standards. Combining ambient air quality standards with household fuel interventions produces more than additive health benefits, highlighting the importance of integrated policies in maximizing benefits.

1

Policies are costly to implement

Provide evidence-based support for policies because benefits can be seen as offsetting costs 

2

Need to choose among alternative policies

Help identify which policies provide the best return on investment

3

Emissions/meteorology vary spatially/over time

Help evaluate policies by providing spatially/ temporally resolved benefits that can be compared with implementation costs

4

Lack of transparent methods undermines public confidence

Help bolster public understanding by providing a transparent end-to-end framework and peer-reviewed methods

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