Health and climate policy impacts on sulfur emission control

Abstract

Sulfate aerosol from burning fossil fuels not only has strong cooling effects on the Earth's climate, but also imposes substantial cost on human health. To assess the impact of addressing air pollution on climate policy, we incorporate both the climate and health effects of sulfate aerosol in an integrated-assessment model of fossil fuel emission control. Our simulation show that a policy that adjust fossil fuel and sulfur emissions to address both warming and health simultaneously will support more stringent fossil fuel and sulfur controls. The combination of both climate and health objectives leads to an acceleration of global warming in the 21st century as a result of the short-term climate response to the decreased cooling from the immediate removal of short-lived surfate aerosol. In the long term (more than 100 years), reducing sulfate aerosol emissions requires that we decrease fossil fuel combustion in general, thereby removing removing some of the coemitted carbon emissions and leading to a reduction in globa'l warming. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.