| Title: | New Insights for Tracking Global and Local Trends in Exposure to Air Pollutants |
| Author(s): | Wolf MJ; Esty DC; Kim H; Bell ML; Brigham S; Nortonsmith Q; Zaharieva S; Wendling ZA; de Sherbinin A; Emerson JW; |
| Address: | "Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States. School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States. Yale Law School, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States. Yale School of Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences Division, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, United States. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, United States. Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York, New York 10115, United States. Center for International Earth Science Information Network, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York 10025, United States. Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1520-5851 (Electronic) 0013-936X (Print) 0013-936X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Over six million people die prematurely each year from exposure to air pollution. Current air quality metrics insufficiently monitor exposure to air pollutants. This gap hinders the ability of decisionmakers to address the public health impacts of air pollution. To spur new emissions control policies and ensure implemented solutions realize meaningful gains in environmental health, we develop a framework of public-health-focused air quality indicators that quantifies over 200 countries' trends in exposure to particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds. We couple population density to ground-level pollutant concentrations to derive population-weighted exposure metrics that quantify the pollutant levels experienced by the average resident in each country. Our analyses demonstrate that most residents in 171 countries experience pollutant levels exceeding international health guidelines. In addition, we find a negative correlation between temporal trends in ozone and nitrogen oxide concentrations, which horizontal line when qualitatively interpreted with a simple atmospheric chemistry box model horizontal line can help describe the apparent tradeoff between the mitigation of these two pollutants on local scales. These novel indicators and their applications enable regulators to identify their most critical pollutant exposure trends and allow countries to track the performance of their emission control policies over time" |
| Keywords: | *Air Pollutants/analysis *Air Pollution/analysis Environmental Monitoring Humans *Ozone/analysis Particulate Matter/analysis Sulfur Dioxide/analysis air pollution air quality environmental indicator environmental policy; |
| Notes: | "MedlineWolf, Martin J Esty, Daniel C Kim, Honghyok Bell, Michelle L Brigham, Sam Nortonsmith, Quinn Zaharieva, Slaveya Wendling, Zachary A de Sherbinin, Alex Emerson, John W eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2022/03/08 Environ Sci Technol. 2022 Apr 5; 56(7):3984-3996. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c08080. Epub 2022 Mar 7" |
