Substantial air quality and health co-benefits from combined federal and subnational climate actions in the United States

Policymakers increasingly recognize the air quality and health co-benefits from climate mitigation efforts, yet it remains unclear which combination of policy actions can bring more health co-benefits with more equitable distributions. By developing a coupled energy-pollution-health modeling framework, we show that by 2030, combined efforts from all societal actors across the United States can lower premature deaths attributable to exposure to ambient particulate matter by 6,600 cases (confidence interval: 3,200–10,000) relative to a “baseline” scenario. Net health co-benefits are found in every state and nearly every county (>99%). Future trends in socioeconomic patterns and air-pollution-control efforts are key determinants of the baseline pollution and health levels without climate actions and, consequently, the scale of health co-benefits attributable to climate actions. Our study thus demonstrates the complex and interacting drivers for future health impacts and highlights the importance of coordinated efforts across various policy domains and actors.