Descripción del proyecto
Evaluación de las consecuencias imprevistas de las políticas medioambientales
La legislación medioambiental de la Unión Europea (UE), elaborada durante decenios, ayuda a la economía a ser más respetuosa con el medio ambiente y a proteger los recursos naturales. También tiene por objeto salvaguardar la salud y el bienestar de las personas que viven en la UE. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos HEAL evaluará el compromiso entre los elevados costes relacionados con la reducción de la quema de combustibles fósiles (que contribuyen de manera significativa al cambio climático mundial y a la contaminación atmosférica regional) y la salvaguardia de la salud humana. En concreto, estudiará las repercusiones económicas de los cambios en la calidad del aire local que fueron consecuencias imprevistas del régimen de comercio de derechos de emisión de dióxido de carbono de la UE. También analizará el efecto de la contaminación atmosférica en la oferta de mano de obra, la salud y la migración. Los hallazgos favorecerán la formulación de políticas medioambientales.
Objetivo
Environmental quality has been improving dramatically in Europe, helped by structural transformation and by environmental regulation. Notwithstanding such improvements, environmental regulation continues to be a top priority for policy makers in Europe and other post-industrial societies. Global climate change is an important reason for this. Increasing demand for environmental quality is another one, explaining why some of the richest agglomerations in Europe have been adopting very costly measures to further reduce air pollution. Both global climate change and regional air pollution originate to a large extent from the combustion of fossil fuels, an activity that, in Europe, is costly to curb but also causes substantial damage to human health. This project contributes new tools for assessing this trade-off by (i) developing empirical models that greatly enhance spatial detail in state-of-the-art economic impact analysis, (ii) pioneering an interdisciplinary approach that links causal inference on pollution emissions at the source to chemical transport models for air pollutants, and (iii) incorporating subclinical and long-term health impacts of air pollution into economic damage estimates. Part I of the project studies the economic implications of changes in local air quality that were an unintended consequence of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme for carbon dioxide. Part II analyzes the impacts of air pollution on labor supply, health, and migration in a unified empirical framework. The key objective of this project is to provide empirical evidence that can inform environmental policy-making in the broad contexts of climate policy and air quality management. Given the ambitious concepts proposed, the global significance of the environmental problems addressed, and the focus on policy, this project has the potential to make a large impact.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
68161 Mannheim
Alemania