AUTHOR=Jordan Amy B. , Rodriguez Daniel S. , Bennett Jeffrey A. , Sale Kat , Gilhooley Christopher 

TITLE=Quantifying air quality co-benefits to industrial decarbonization: the local Air Emissions Tracking Atlas

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1394678

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1394678

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Many decarbonization technologies have the added co-benefit of reducing short-lived climate pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub>), and sulfur dioxide (SO<sub>2</sub>), creating a unique opportunity for identifying strategies that promote both climate change solutions and opportunities for air quality improvement. However, stakeholders and decision-makers may struggle to quantify how these co-benefits will impact public health for the communities most affected by industrial air pollution.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>To address this problem, the LOCal Air Emissions Tracking Atlas (<italic>LOCAETA</italic>) fills a data availability and analysis gap by providing estimated air quality benefits from industrial decarbonization options, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). These co-benefits are calculated using an algorithm that connects disparate datasets that separately report greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants at U.S. industrial facilities.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Version 1.0 of <italic>LOCAETA</italic> displays the estimated primary PM<sub>2.5</sub> emission reduction co-benefits from additional pretreatment equipment for CCS on industrial and power facilities across the state of Louisiana, as well as the potential for VOC and NH<sub>3</sub> generation. The emission reductions are presented in the tool alongside facility pollutant emissions information and relevant air quality, environmental, demographic, and public health datasets, such as air toxics cancer risk, satellite and <italic>in situ</italic> pollutant measurements, and population vulnerability metrics.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p><italic>LOCAETA</italic> enables regulators, policymakers, environmental justice communities, and industrial and commercial users to compare and contrast quantifiable public health benefits due to air quality impacts from various climate change mitigation strategies using a free and publicly-available tool. Additional pollutant reductions can be calculated using the same methodology and will be available in future versions of the tool.</p></sec>