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New research says up to six million early deaths could be
avoided through the strategic closure of the worst polluting
power stations. (Credit: Canva).
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The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that retiring the most polluting and most harmful power stations – by focusing on addressing air pollution concerns as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions – would save millions of lives.
The research has been led by professor Qiang Zhang, of Tsinghua University in Beijing, who modelled the potential impacts of both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution caused by power generation, particularly coal.
“Our detailed and dynamic analysis of climate, pollution and health impacts from the future power systems at the level of individual generating units reveals that air pollution deaths are not an automatic and fixed co-benefit of all climate mitigation,” the research paper says.
“Rather, pollution controls and strategic retirements of the most-polluting and harmful power plants may ultimately determine the extent to which health co-benefits are realised.”
The research found that between 2010 and 2018, 91 per cent of the premature deaths caused by power station pollution occurred in lower-income or emerging economies.
These included India, China and other countries across Southeast Asia where softer regulatory controls, closer proximity of power stations to densely populated regions and higher industrial activity caused smog and other particulate pollution.
The worst offenders were smaller coal generators, especially those below 300MW in generation capacity, which are more likely to be found in developing countries, which accounted for more than half of air pollution related deaths.
Coal plants made up 46 per cent of the world’s generation capacity, but were responsible for 80 per cent of power generation-related air pollution deaths.
“Even assuming successful climate change mitigation and strong pollution controls, implementing our data-driven approach to targeting super-polluting units for retirement and replacement could save millions of lives worldwide by the middle of the century,” the report says.
The research challenges the assertions of some within the Morrison government that Australia’s ongoing exports of fossil fuels were helping to alleviate poverty and improve health across the Asian region.
The research is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that the ongoing use of fossil fuels is not just a global environmental concern due to global warming, that it is also a significant public health concern, contributing to substantial increases in air pollution that causes major health problems and premature deaths.
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