Reducing CO2 emissions helps save millions of people

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels to a safer level could save millions of lives every year by the end of the century. The results of the study have been published by scientists at the University of North Carolina (USA) in the Journal of Natural Climate Change issued on September 22.

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Scientists make this estimate based on the simulation of the level of two toxic and highly polluting substances including solid waste (fine particulate) from coal, oil and gas combustion, and ozone gas. (O ₃ ).

Photo: climateshifts.org

Ozone when concentrated mainly in the atmospheric stratosphere helps filter most of the harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun, but when the Earth's surface is harmful to most species because it is a substance Respiratory irritation, can be dangerous to the lungs.

The ozone molecule consists of 3 oxygen atoms formed. At the surface of the Earth, ozone is formed by an interaction between the emissions of vehicles and white light.

Based on data on greenhouse gas emissions, the research team led by Professor Jason West has built up RCP4.5 model . According to scientists, RCP4.5 is a fairly "moderate" scenario, which predicts that the surface temperature of the Earth by 2100 will be 2.6 degrees Celsius higher than the temperature before the industrial boom ( after World War II).

According to the model RCP4.5, by 2030 the world can avoid about 500,000 deaths each year, and this number will increase to 1.3 million cases in 2050, to 2.2 million by 2100 if the amount GHG emissions decreased.

Restricting early mortality will help strengthen the workforce for countries, creating practical economic benefits. While the cost to reduce emissions is currently very high, it will come at a time when economic benefits will be greater, especially in East Asia, where up to two-thirds of deaths are related to emissions. glass House.