Huang, X., Peng, W., Zhao, A., Ou, Y., Kennedy, S., Iyer, G., McJeon, H., Cui, R. & Hultman, N. E. (2025) Substantial Air Quality and Health Benefits from Combined Federal and Subnational Climate Actions in the United States. One Earth 8, 101232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101232
- Combining US federal and subnational actions yields widespread health co-benefits
- Climate policies can reduce 6,600 PM2.5-related deaths across the US in 2030
- Health co-benefits are found in nearly all US counties (>99%)
- Besides climate actions, socioeconomic trends and air quality policies also matter
Summary
Policymakers increasingly recognize the air quality and health co-benefits from climate mitigation efforts, yet it remains unclear which combination of policy actions can bring more health co-benefits with more equitable distributions. By developing a coupled energy-pollution-health modeling framework, this study shows that by 2030, combined efforts from all societal actors across the United States can lower premature deaths attributable to exposure to ambient particulate matter by 6,600 cases (confidence interval: 3,200–10,000) relative to a ‘‘baseline’’ scenario. Net health co-benefits are found in every state and nearly every county (>99%). Future trends in socioeconomic patterns and air pollution control efforts are key determinants of the baseline pollution and health levels without climate actions and, consequently, the scale of health co-benefits attributable to climate actions. This study thus demonstrates the complex and interacting drivers for future health impacts and highlights the importance of coordinated efforts across various policy domains and actors.