Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Regional inequalities in air quality and health co-benefits due to climate change mitigation in the European electricity sector

Published inClimatic change, vol. 178, no. 2, 27
Publication date2025-02
First online date2025-02-03
Abstract

Electricity supply transition to reach carbon neutrality in Europe is expected to bring air quality and health co-benefits, but their regional distribution has not been investigated in detail. This study quantifies these co-benefits for 250 European electricity scenarios in 2035 across 296 sub-national regions. The study links a spatially-explicit electricity sector model with an air quality and health impact model and then accounts for susceptibility and vulnerability of populations to adverse health effects. In case of low-carbon transition, direct PM2.5 concentrations attributable to European electricity generation in 2035 could be reduced by 45–99% compared to a system with the generation capacities of 2018. Depending on the system’s make-up, health co-benefits can vary significantly, as does their regional distribution. Focus on the minimum system costs leads to 15 times higher continent-wide excess deaths and to higher regional inequality than the scenario with minimum air pollutant emissions, which would almost entirely eliminate PM2.5-related mortality attributable to electricity generation. The most vulnerable regions (Balkans, Northern Germany, Southeast France, and the West Midlands in England) would benefit from higher air quality co-benefits than the continental average.

Keywords
  • Energy
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Health
  • Air pollution
  • Modeling
Funding
  • European Commission - Expanding Integrated Assessment Modelling: Comprehensive and Comprehensible Science for Sustainable, Co-Created Climate Action [101056306]
Citation (ISO format)
PEHLE, Hannah, SASSE, Jan-Philipp, TRUTNEVYTE, Evelina. Regional inequalities in air quality and health co-benefits due to climate change mitigation in the European electricity sector. In: Climatic change, 2025, vol. 178, n° 2, p. 27. doi: 10.1007/s10584-024-03851-x
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttps://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-024-03851-x
Journal ISSN0165-0009
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44downloads

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