Benefits to Children's Health of Climate Change Mitigation Policies

Children now bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of climate change and air pollution due to fossil fuel combustion; and their future well- being is seriously affected. These twin threats arise from the continued reliance on coal, oil, diesel, gasoline and natural gas for electricity production, transportation, heating and cooling, and industry. Their combustion releases vast quantities of toxic air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM_2.5,), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) -- as well as carbon dioxide (CO₂), the major human-produced greenhouse gas. The developing fetus and young child are disproportionately affected because of their immature defense mechanisms and rapid development, especially those in low income populations where poverty and lack of resources compound the effects. Health impacts include adverse birth impacts, infant mortality, impairment of cognitive and behavioral development, asthma and other respiratory illness, impaired physical growth, and mental health problems—all of which may be “seeded“ in utero and affect health and functioning at birth, during childhood and over the life course. Synergies between air pollution and climate change magnify the harm to children. Policies to mitigate climate change by reducing fossil fuel emissions have had sizeable estimated health and economic co-benefits. However, in most such assessments only a few adverse outcomes in children have been considered, resulting in a serious undercounting of the benefits to this vulnerable population. As a first step in remedying this problem, our team has expanded the US Environmental Protection Agency BenMAP program to include adverse outcomes associated with PM_2.5 : preterm birth (PTB), low birthweight (LBW), autism, and the development of childhood asthma. An expanded assessment of an important climate mitigation policy, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the Northeastern US, estimates that during the period 2009-2014 the policy resulted in significant avoided health costs to children and correspondingly large economic savings. This case study illustrates the potential of such expanded assessments of the co-benefits of climate mitigation policies to inform and incentivize further policies to address climate change.