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Producing and burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that harms our health and generates toxic emissions that drive climate change.

 

From the electricity that lights our homes to the cars we drive to work, modern life was built on fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. But burning them creates climate change and releases pollutants that lead to early death, heart attacks, respiratory disorders, stroke, asthma, and absenteeism at school and work. It has also been linked to autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s disease.

Research from Harvard University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, found that more than 8 million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution, significantly higher than previous research suggested—meaning that air pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal and diesel was responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Each year, our team contributes to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change to track the impacts of climate change on human health across 44 indicators around the world. Our research analyzes the health impacts of burning fossil fuels and shows how much we have to gain by ending our reliance on them. Recent research from our Center:

  • Identified at least 21 different hazardous air pollutants, as defined by the U.S. EPA, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and hexane, in consumer-grade natural gas supplied to Massachusetts.
  • Created a new inventory of air pollution impacts from stationary sources over the past decade that shows the negative impacts of burning natural gas and biomass have surpassed coal generation in many states, which is a trend that may continue.
  • Conducted the first study to determine that Pennsylvania’s statewide setback regulations for fracking do not prevent setback incidents, and identified the potential risks and exposures for people living near fracking or underground natural gas wells.
  • Showed that more people live closer to underground gas storage wells than previously thought. An estimated 20,000 homes and 53,000 people in predominantly suburban areas of PA, OH, WV, MI, NY, and CA live within a city block of active underground natural gas storage wells.
  • Developed the science-based case for why it is “appropriate and necessary” for EPA to regulate mercury emissions from the power sector; and why the health benefits of regulation and remaining risks from mercury pollution in the U.S. should be assessed.

Study: Regional transportation pact could save more than 1,000 lives

A regional initiative among 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states aimed at reducing carbon emissions from transportation could help avoid about 1,100 deaths and nearly 5,000 asthma cases each year, and could save more than $11 billion in health costs, according to a new analysis.

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Carbon Standards Re-Examined

Our researchers collaborated with other institutions on a working paper on what EPA’s finalized ACE Rule means for public health. The analysis calls into question the assumptions and predictions used in EPA’s cost-benefit analysis.

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Weakened mercury controls could lead to health harms

The Trump administration has weakened regulations regarding the release of mercury and other toxic metals from coal- and oil-fired power plants. Environmental and public health experts say the move is an attack on air quality and could harm health—particularly that of children. “What is most disconcerting to me is this administration’s lack of interest in…

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Public Health Benefits Associated with Mercury Emissions Reductions from U.S. Power Plants

Our new white paper makes a science-based case for why it is appropriate and necessary to regulate mercury emissions from the power sector.

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2019 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: Policy Brief for the U.S.

Every child born today will be affected by climate change. How we respond will shape the health of children across the globe.

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Where to install renewable energy to get the greatest climate and health benefits in the U.S.

A guide for state and national policymakers designing climate plans and for utility and investor decisions.

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Many More People Live Closer To Underground Gas Storage Wells Than Previously Thought

An estimated 20,000 homes and 53,000 people in predominantly suburban areas of PA, OH, WV, MI, NY, and CA live within a city block of active underground natural gas storage wells.

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House Dust in Mining-Impacted Communities May Impact Children's Health

Young children are a particular concern because early exposures to metals commonly found at mining sites are associated with neurodevelopmental deficits.

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Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal

Life cycle impacts of coal cost the US public a third to over one half a trillion dollars annually.

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How Dangerous are Underground Natural Gas Storage Wells?

Study explores the risks of aging infrastructure throughout the United States.

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Shedding light on climate change’s threats to health

Gina McCarthy wants to get the word out that climate change is more than just “a distant issue”—that it’s a very real threat to public health right now. In a wide-ranging March 21, 2019 interview with Medscape, McCarthy, director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at Harvard T.H. Chan School…

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The Center of Happiness

Most public health research focuses on the underlying causes of death and disease. But at the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at the Harvard Chan School, researchers focus on the opposite: the positive factors that maintain or even improve people’s health and well-being. A $21 million gift from the Lee Kum Kee…

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Carbon Standards Examined

A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters predicts that, compared to no carbon regulations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule would increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 18 states and Washington, D.C. in 2030 due to an “emissions rebound,” raising questions about the rule’s standing under the Clean Air Act. Sulfur…

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China is polluting California's air

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U.S. smog can come from China? And other facts about pollution’s toxic travels

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Some states’ emissions would be higher under Trump climate rule, study finds

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Massachusetts carbon tax ‘would save 340 lives’

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Reliance on coal linked with lung cancer incidence

The more a country relies on coal-fired power plants to generate energy, the greater the lung cancer risk is among its citizens, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published on January 28, 2019 in the journal Environmental Health. Most estimates of health risks from coal-fired…

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New EPA Coal Rules Would Kill 224 Texans a Year, According to Harvard Study

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A Gas Company Settles for $119.5 Million for the biggest methane leak in US History

After one of its natural gas storage wells blew out and caused the biggest methane leak in United States history, the Southern California Gas Company has agreed to pay $119.5 million to settle city, county, and state claims against it.

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