US EPA

3359050 

Journal Article 

The Impact of Individual Anthropogenic Emissions Sectors on the Global Burden of Human Mortality due to Ambient Air Pollution 

Silva, RA; Adelman, Z; Fry, MM; West, JJ 

2016 

Yes 

Environmental Health Perspectives
ISSN: 0091-6765
EISSN: 1552-9924 

124 

11 

1776-1784 

English 

27177206 

10.1289/EHP177 

WOS:000386913800023 

BACKGROUND: Exposure to ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can cause adverse health effects, including premature mortality due to cardiopulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Recent studies quantify global air pollution mortality but not the contribution of different emissions sectors, or they focus on a specific sector.

OBJECTIVES: We estimate the global mortality burden of anthropogenic ozone and PM2.5, and the impact of five emissions sectors, using a global chemical transport model at a finer horizontal resolution (0.67°x0.5°) than previous studies.

METHODS: We perform simulations for 2005 with MOZART-4 zeroing-out all anthropogenic emissions and emissions from specific sectors (All Transportation, Land Transportation, Energy, Industry, and Residential & Commercial). We estimate premature mortality using a log-linear concentration-response function for ozone and an integrated exposure-response model for PM2.5.

RESULTS: We estimate 2.23 (95% CI: 1.04, 3.33) million deaths/year related to anthropogenic PM2.5, with the highest mortality in East Asia (48%). The Residential & Commercial sector has the greatest impact globally - 675 (428, 899) thousand deaths/year - and in most regions. Land Transportation dominates in North America (32% of total anthropogenic PM2.5 mortality), and it has almost the same impact (24%) as Residential & Commercial (27%) in Europe. Anthropogenic ozone is associated with 493 (122, 989) thousand deaths/year, with the Land Transportation sector having the greatest impact globally (16%).

CONCLUSIONS: The contributions of emissions sectors to ambient air pollution-related mortality differ among regions, suggesting region-specific air pollution control strategies. Global sector-specific actions targeting Land Transportation (ozone) and Residential & Commercial (PM2.5) would particularly benefit human health.