Co-Benefits of Action
By coordinating decisions and policies, it is possible to take actions to reduce emissions that contribute to air pollution and poor air quality, climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion. The goal is to find ways to invest once and not twice in order to address concerns with all of these issues. Shared positive results are known as co-benefits.
Opportunities to pursue co-benefits are greatest when there are many linkages or areas of overlap between the air issues. For instance, one of the most critical linkages between air issues and climate change is energy production and consumption. In particular, the combustion of fossil fuels in our vehicles,power generation plants, industries, and in homes continues to be a major source of pollutants affecting both clean air and climate change concerns.
The best way to reduce these pollutants is through pollution prevention, which includes reducing fuel and energy use. Alternatively, we can make our activities more efficient and less polluting through advances in science and technology (e.g., improving the fuel efficiency of vehicles, using cleaner alternative fuels or low impact energy).
However, the overlap or linkages between these air issues may not be great enough to allow for significant co-benefits. For example, making the air cleaner won't necessarily slow the rate of stratospheric ozone depletion.
Still, we can all pursue co-benefits by taking action to improve our environment and our health.
