Dataset Information

Air quality equity in US climate policy.

ABSTRACT: The United States government has indicated a desire to advance environmental justice through climate policy. As fossil fuel combustion produces both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate mitigation strategies may provide an opportunity to address historical inequities in air pollution exposure. To test the impact of climate policy implementation choices on air quality equity, we develop a broad range of GHG reduction scenarios that are each consistent with the US Paris Accord target and model the resulting air pollution changes. Using idealized decision criteria, we show that least cost and income-based emission reductions can exacerbate air pollution disparities for communities of color. With a suite of randomized experiments that facilitates exploration of a wider climate policy decision space, we show that disparities largely persist despite declines in average pollution exposure, but that reducing transportation emissions has the most potential to reduce racial inequities.

SUBMITTER: Polonik P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10293853 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Air quality equity in US climate policy.

Polonik Pascal P Ricke Katharine K Reese Sean S Burney Jennifer J

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20230620 26

The United States government has indicated a desire to advance environmental justice through climate policy. As fossil fuel combustion produces both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate mitigation strategies may provide an opportunity to address historical inequities in air pollution exposure. To test the impact of climate policy implementation choices on air quality equity, we develop a broad range of GHG reduction scenarios that are each consistent with the US Pa ...[more]

PMID: 37339204

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Project description:ObjectiveTo describe the perception of professional climate in health services and policy research (HSPR) and efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the HSPR workforce and workplaces.Data sourceWe administered the HSPR Workplace Culture Survey online to health services and policy researchers.Study designOur survey examined participants' sociodemographic, educational, and professional backgrounds, their perception on DEI in HSPR, experience with DEI initiatives, feeling of inclusion, and direct and witnessed experiences of discrimination at their institutions/organizations. We calculated sample proportions of responses by gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and disability status and compared them with Fisher's exact test.Data collectionWe administered the survey online from July 28 to September 4, 2020. HSPR professionals and trainees aged 18 and older were eligible to participate. Analyses used complete cases only (n = 906; 70.6% completion rate).Principal findings53.4% of the participants did not believe that the current workforce reflects the diversity of communities impacted by HSPR. Although most participants have witnessed various DEI initiatives at their institutions/organizations, nearly 40% characterized these initiatives as "tokenistic." Larger proportions of participants who identified as female, LGBQI+, underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, and those with a disability held this perception than their male, heterosexual, White, and non-disabled counterparts. Current DEI initiatives focused on "planning" activities (e.g., convening task forces) rather than "implementation" activities (e.g., establishing mentoring or network programs). 43.7% of the participants felt supported on their career development, while female, Black, Hispanic/Latino, LGBQI+ participants and those with a disability experienced discrimination at their workplace.ConclusionsDespite an increasing commitment to increasing the diversity of the HSPR workforce and improving equity and inclusion in the HSPR workplace, our results suggest that there is more work to be done to achieve such goals.

Project description:BackgroundSignificant mitigation efforts beyond the Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) coming out of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement are required to avoid warming of 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures. Health co-benefits represent selected near term, positive consequences of climate policies that can offset mitigation costs in the short term before the beneficial impacts of those policies on the magnitude of climate change are evident. The diversity of approaches to modeling mitigation options and their health effects inhibits meta-analyses and syntheses of results useful in policy-making.Methods/designWe evaluated the range of methods and choices in modeling health co-benefits of climate mitigation to identify opportunities for increased consistency and collaboration that could better inform policy-making. We reviewed studies quantifying the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation related to air quality, transportation, and diet published since the 2009 Lancet Commission 'Managing the health effects of climate change' through January 2017. We documented approaches, methods, scenarios, health-related exposures, and health outcomes.Results/synthesisForty-two studies met the inclusion criteria. Air quality, transportation, and diet scenarios ranged from specific policy proposals to hypothetical scenarios, and from global recommendations to stakeholder-informed local guidance. Geographic and temporal scope as well as validity of scenarios determined policy relevance. More recent studies tended to use more sophisticated methods to address complexity in the relevant policy system.DiscussionMost studies indicated significant, nearer term, local ancillary health benefits providing impetus for policy uptake and net cost savings. However, studies were more suited to describing the interaction of climate policy and health and the magnitude of potential outcomes than to providing specific accurate estimates of health co-benefits. Modeling the health co-benefits of climate policy provides policy-relevant information when the scenarios are reasonable, relevant, and thorough, and the model adequately addresses complexity. Greater consistency in selected modeling choices across the health co-benefits of climate mitigation research would facilitate evaluation of mitigation options particularly as they apply to the NDCs and promote policy uptake.

Dataset Information

Air quality equity in US climate policy.

Publications

Air quality equity in US climate policy.

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