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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1519984
This article is part of the Research Topic Air Quality: Observation, Remote Sensing, and Model Development - Volume II View all 4 articles

Global health benefits associated with dramatic decrease of land transportation emission during COVID-19 period

Provisionally accepted
Yilong Zhao Yilong Zhao 1Yubao Chen Yubao Chen 2Fengqing Zhuo Fengqing Zhuo 3Hongbo Fu Hongbo Fu 1*
  • 1 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 2 School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
  • 3 Beijing Capital Air Environmental Science & Technology CO., LTD, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The changes of global air pollutant concentrations influenced by COVID-19 lockdown have been widely investigated. The lack of individual contribution to restricted human activities (i.e. transportation) was responsible for the poor understanding on the health impact of lockdown. Herein, an efficient chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) was employed to simulate the concentration changes of air pollutants (PM2.5, NO2 and O3) associated with the emission reduction of land transportation and corresponding health benefits. The simulated results suggested that transportation-related PM2.5, NO2 and O3 reduced by 20%, 36% and 55%, respectively. The reduced percentage of O3 concentration has presented an order of China (67%) > India (56%) > Europe (-81%) > the US (-86%), indicating the various intensities of secondary transformation with spatial relevance. The health benefits were also simulated and the all-caused moralities were estimated to be 63547 (95% CI: 47597, 79497), 52685 (95% CI: 32310, 73059) and 231980 (95% CI: 210373, 253586), for the reduced concentration of PM2.5, NO2 and O3 globally, respectively. Transportationrelated O3 reduction caused the largest proportion (~ 67%) on global health benefits, which further emphasized the globality and severity of O3 pollution. Our study has confirmed that the health benefits of transportation emission reduction from COVID-19 lockdown were considerable and provides relevant simulated data for evidence. We suggest that further restriction guidance on certain pollutant around the world should coordinate together to control the global O3 concentration and prevent people from severe O3 exposure.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Transportation emission, GEOS-Chem, Health benefits, Atmosphere pollutants

    Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 21 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhao, Chen, Zhuo and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hongbo Fu, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.