Tackling climate change would save millions of lives a year by the end of the century purely as a result of the decrease in air pollution, according to a new study.
The study is published as scientists from around the globe gather in Stockholm to thrash out final details of a landmark assessment of climate science. Their final report is due to be released on Friday 27 September and will set out projections of wide-ranging impacts of global warming from droughts to floods to sea-level rise.
The research suggests that the benefits of cuts to air pollution from curbing fossil-fuel use justify action alone – even without other climate impacts such as more extreme weather and sea-level rise.
"It is pretty striking that you can make an argument purely on health grounds to control climate change," said Jason West, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose work is published in Nature Climate Change.
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