Benefits and Costs of the Air Pollution Targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, December 2014.
Marc Jeuland, Sanford School of Public Policy Duke Global Health Institute , Duke University
The assessment paper “Benefits and Costs of Air Pollution Targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Post 2015 Consensus” provides an accessible entry into a problem of major global importance for both global health and environmental sustainability, that of household air pollution. It presents data on the magnitude and scope of the negative effectsof pollution from household use of solid fuels. The assessment paper then addresses some of the complications associated with specifying pollution targets in this domain, and proposes that technology-based targets (concerning specific fuels or stoves) are likely most appropriate. In line with this recommendation of appropriate targets, it closes by demonstrating the economic case for higher-efficiency cookstoves, which are receiving increasing attention and support from the global community. Indeed, replacement of traditional stoves with cleaner cooking technologies has been called “low hanging fruit”(Rosenthal 2009), in part because they would deliver a diverse set of benefits – to health and well-being, local environmental quality, and mitigation of global climate change (GACC2010, World Bank 2013).
