Curbing Short-Lived Air Pollution May Increase Life Expectancy and Improve the Climate

Curbing short-term pollutants could be huge for the general population and even for climate change. Scientists have found that reducing these pollutants could actually increase life expectancy.

In 2010 in the EU, the reduction in life expectancy due to air pollution was 7.5 months in 2010. New legislation, though, aims to improve air quality to reduce this loss to 5.2 months by 2030. This latest study shows that this loss could be reduced even further if short-term air pollutants are targeted. In addition, this could actually bring climate benefits.

In this latest study, the researchers considered short-lived substances that not only affect warming but are also air pollutants, or are transformed into air pollutants once in the atmosphere. Methane, for example, is the second strongest contributor to climate warming after CO2 and is also an ozone precursor: chemical reactions in the atmosphere involving methane produce ozone, a pollutant that present significant health risks.

"We have found that the measures to reduce methane and other ozone precursors would significantly improve the ozone air quality, especially over northern continents," said William Collins, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This would be good for human health and would improve crop yields, confirming the additional benefits of mitigation."

In fact, overall the new measures would lower global anthropogenic emissions of methane by 50 percent and black carbon aerosols, also known as soot, by 80 percent.

The findings could be huge for not only improving public health, but also improving the environment. If these measures are instituted, then we may just see an upswing in life expectancy for those who live in polluted regions.

The findings are published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

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