Reaching Emission Targets Could Save 295,000 U.S. Lives by 2030, Study Says

The greenhouse emission cuts that America agreed to at the Paris climate conference may come with a significant public health benefit —the prevention of 295,000 premature deaths— according to a Duke University study. At the December summit, 196 nations, including the U.S., agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In order to achieve that goal, the U.S. will need to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030, which would lead to a significant reduction in deadly air pollution, according to the study. “People should realize that emissions are having a big impact already”¦ more than 100,000 deaths a year,” said Drew Shindell, a climate scientist at Duke and lead author of the study. “Air pollution is a very big health challenge, it’s having a major public health impact in the U.S.” According to the World Health Organization, about seven million people died in 2012 as a result of air pollution.