Impact of climate change policies on environmental inequalities in Great Britain
Author(s)
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The UK Climate Change Act of 2008 requires an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by 2050 compared with 1990. Strategies implemented to achieve this target offer the opportunity to improve public health and reduce environmental inequalities across Great Britain.We investigated the effect of alternative pathways to achieve the carbon dioxide reduction target on particulate and gaseous air pollution levels across different subpopulations in Great Britain.We linked the sophisticated air quality model CMAQ-Urban with the energy systems model UK TIMES to predict air pollution concentrations in 2035 and 2050 for different scenarios (two scenarios meet the emissions reduction target, two do not). We aggregated model outputs (fine particulate matter [PM2.5], nitrogen dioxide [NO2] and ozone) to the small-area level (ward ~6000 people) and compared concentrations by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. We used data on ethnicity from the 2011 census to classify wards according to their ethnic composition as White or Non-White and a composite small-area socioeconomic indicator to rank wards from the most to least deprived 5th of wards.Both NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations were higher in Non-White compared to White wards (9.3 µg/m3 NO2 difference) in all scenarios, less so for ozone. In 2011, mean concentrations in the most deprived 5th of wards were 4.3 µg/m3 higher compared to the least deprived (ratio = 1.37). This difference decreased by 2050 in all scenarios, for example, to 2.8 µg/m3 in the baseline scenario, showing a narrowing in the air pollution inequality gap (ratio = 1.31). This general pattern varied by region. PM2.5 and O3 showed smaller differences. Despite significant reductions in NO2 and modest reductions in PM2.5 and ozone in 2050, air pollution inequalities still persist in all scenarios.
Date Issued
2018-09-24
Date Acceptance
2018-08-01
Citation
ISEE Conference Abstracts, 2018, 2018 (1)
ISSN
1078-0475
Publisher
Environmental Health Perspectives
Journal / Book Title
ISEE Conference Abstracts
Volume
2018
Issue
1
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/isesisee.2018.o01.02.23
Source
International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2018-08-26
Finish Date
2018-08-30
Coverage Spatial
Ottawa, Canada
Date Publish Online
2018-08-01