Health and Climate Policy Impacts on Sulfur Emission Control

[1] Sulfate aerosol from burning fossil fuels not only has strong cooling effects on the Earth’s climate but also imposes substantial costs on human health. To assess the impact of addressing air pollution on climate policy, we incorporate both the climate and health effects of sulfate aerosol into an integrated-assessment model of fossil fuel emission control. Our simulations show that a policy that adjusts fossil fuel and sulfur emissions to address both warming and health simultaneously will support more stringent fossil fuel and sulfur controls. The combination of both climate and health objectives leads to an acceleration of global warming in the 21st century as a result of the short-term climate response to the decreased cooling from the immediate removal of short-lived sulfate aerosol. In the long term (more than 100 years), reducing sulfate aerosol emissions requires that we decrease fossil fuel combustion in general, thereby removing some of the coemitted carbon emissions and leading to a reduction in global warming.