Transport Emissions and Savings in Health Costs

Abstract

The paper aims to provide the basis for an estimation equation and will focus on the relation between transport emissions and air quality in an urban environment. This is directly related to the fact that most health impacts are related to local air quality levels. The aim of the paper is to create an understanding of the factors that play a role in the causal relation between transport emissions and health effects and provides approximations from existing studies that can be used to assess these health impacts and related costs. The paper focuses on the translation of air pollution levels into health impacts and health costs. The overall structure of the paper follows the two key steps and elaborates on the inherent challenges: (1) identify and measure the health effects of air pollution, and (2) to estimate the costs of the health effects. The paper is divided into four chapters: chapter one is introduction- outlining the goals and background to the project; chapter two gives impacts of air pollution from transport on health; chapter three presents valuation of health impacts- reviews the literature on how to value the impacts on health associated with air pollution; and chapter four gives guidelines for calculating the health effects of air pollution from traffic.