How we can permanently reduce air pollution
A shift to electric cars and buses would save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars
Some have celebrated a recent reduction in air pollution in major cities related to COVID-19, as people stay home and traffic volumes decline. But a pandemic is not the solution we need to reduce air pollution — neither temporarily nor permanently.
Today, on Clean Air Day, it’s important to consider how to permanently improve air quality and improve our health with smart solutions that will outlast the current pandemic, and protect those most vulnerable to the negative effects of air pollution.
The evidence we’ve released to- day in our Clearing the Air report shows that cleaner vehicles can be a pathway to cleaner air, improved public health, and reduced climate change impacts. This research is the result of a unique collaboration between the University of Toronto’s Transportation and Air Quality Research Group, the Ontario Public Health Association, and Environmental Defence.
In the Greater Toronto-Hamilton area (GTHA) alone, our modelling found that shifting to electric vehicles and cleaner, newer trucks could save hundreds of lives every year, cut about one sixth of the GTHA’s greenhouse gas emissions, and lead to billions of dollars in social benefits.
Air pollution and climate change may appear on the surface to be separate issues. This approach doesn’t make sense for vehicles: toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions come out of the same tailpipes, and the solutions to these problems are often one and the same.
Air pollution and climate change both have severe health impacts on people in the GTHA. Our modelling estimates that traffic-related air pollution is responsible for over 800 premature deaths in the region every year due to lung and heart conditions, while Toronto Public Health estimates that mortality related to extreme heat could double by 2050 and triple by 2080 due to warming temperatures. Air pollution and climate change share a common injustice in who they impact most: marginalized people and those already experiencing health inequities. What’s more, research shows that those most vulnerable to these impacts are generally least responsible for creating the air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions causing the problem.
The solutions we’ve modelled will help reduce both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This will lead to health benefits in the GTHA now, reducing premature deaths from air pollution, and in the future by reducing the toll climate change will take on our health as temperatures increase, floods and fires worsen, and the risk of vector-borne diseases increase.
For example, our modelling shows that a shift to electric cars and SUVs in the GTHA would prevent 313 premature deaths every year and provide $2.4 billion per year in social benefits. Switching to newer, cleaner trucks would prevent 275 premature deaths annually, and electrifying all public transit buses in the region would prevent 143 premature deaths annually. Together, these solutions would reduce about 8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year — about 16 per cent of the GTHA’s 2017 total.
Every electric vehicle replacing a gas-powered car brings close to $10,000 in social benefits in the GTHA. These, and other benefits — like improved health and reduced burden on the health-care system — are shared by everyone, not just EV buyers. This justifies strong action to quickly electrify vehicles on our roads.
How do we make these public health improvements a reality?
That’s where strong government action comes in. Spending on vehicle electrification creates a lot of spinoff benefits for the broader population, so it makes sense to do this now to help our economy recover.
One action governments can take right now is electrifying transit bus fleets in the GTHA. Some government funding has already helped get a small number of electric buses on the road, but now is the time to fund more. Public transit buses operate mostly in dense, urban environments where more people are walking, cycling, living, and breathing the air, so cleaner buses will have a big impact in improving local air quality. There are economic benefits to boot — many electric buses are made in Canada, so adding more Canadian electric buses to fleets would create jobs. With an infusion of more funding dollars as part of a green recovery, electric buses could go a long way in improving local health and local economies.
Now is the time for governments to invest in cleaner air and a healthier population. Our report outlines many evidence-based policy solutions to get cleaner cars, trucks and buses on the road. These solutions will bring major public health benefits both now and in the future. Sarah Buchananis is a clean economy program manager with Environmental Defence. Helen Doyle is the environmental health workgroup chair with the Ontario Public Health Association. Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou is in the civil and mineral engineering department at University of Toronto.