Cutting Europe’s Emissions Could Prevent Thousands of Deaths

andROM exhaust to manufacture columns, almost every person in the world breathes in an unhealthy air on a daily basis. The influence is fatal: air pollution is responsible for 7 million early deaths all over the world a year, according to Global Health Organization (From), which makes it The second pioneering risk factor Death behind high blood pressure.
The researchers say this number may be reduced significantly, if we reduce greenhouse gases and air pollutants.
A new study published in the magazine The future of the earth On May 6, I found that up to 250,000 deaths of bad air quality in the center and western Europe alone can be prevented by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced.
The researchers, from the University of Leeds in England, looked at the health effects in Europe in 2014 and 2050 from exposure to two types of pollution. The first is the fine particles, which can penetrate deeply in the lungs and pose the largest health risks. This pollution comes from sources such as forest fires or construction sites. The other is ozone, the surface level, which is formed when sunlight interacts with some pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, which are the result of things like vehicle exhaust and factory emissions. Exposure to these pollutants in the air can lead to Long -term health complicationsIncluding stroke, heart disease and pneumonia.
Read more: The study discovers that less than 1 % of the Earth has safe levels of air pollution
The team studied three scenarios in which policy makers have provided low, medium and high levels of work to combat climate change, and create a chemistry model in the atmosphere to simulate potential air quality in 2050.
The researchers have determined a high level of procedures as an unparalleled, as emissions from housing, industry, transportation and agricultural sectors are reduced from 70 % of the population of Western and Central Europe to less than the WHO WHO Guide for the annual accurate body. They found that doing this would improve air quality throughout the continent and lead to a significant decrease in deaths in general.
It can help treat health inequality. Globally, the poorest societies probably It is exposed to unhealthy air quality compared to the higher income areas. Researchers have found that the disadvantaged areas in Europe currently have relatively higher death rates compared to high -income areas. The results show that a significant decrease in emissions – which caused the high action scenario – will help reduce inequality. However, in light of the moderate and low -influence scenarios, health effects will get worse, highlighting the necessity of aggressive climate mitigation practices.
Air pollution has decreased in Europe over the past two decades, as the European Union has adopted clean, more comprehensive air policies, but there is still more work to do. There are still regions throughout the European Union that have polluted concentrations That exceeds Current standards of the mass. The researchers hope that their results are encouraged by politicians to think not only in the health effects of air pollution, but also how emissions can help marginalized societies that are not affected by an impartially affected.
“The strategies that policy makers take to reduce climate change have significant effects on human quality, not the least number of deaths,” said lead author Connor Clayton, a PhD student at the Earth and Environment College and the Bristle Center for Climate Future at the University of Leeds, in a press release.
“But they also need to consider continuous inequality in exposure between the wealthy and most deprived population that is still a problem, although air pollution has decreased throughout Europe.”