Interactions between global climate change strategies and local air pollution: lessons learnt from the expansion of the power sector in Brazil

Joana Portugal-Pereira (), Alexandre Koberle, André F. P. Lucena, Pedro R. R. Rochedo, Mariana Império, Ana Monteiro Carsalade, Roberto Schaeffer and Peter Rafaj
Additional contact information
Joana Portugal-Pereira: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Alexandre Koberle: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
André F. P. Lucena: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Pedro R. R. Rochedo: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Mariana Império: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Ana Monteiro Carsalade: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Roberto Schaeffer: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Peter Rafaj: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Climatic Change, 2018, vol. 148, issue 1, No 20, 293-309

Abstract: Abstract This study examines the interactions between local air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions to assess potential synergies and trade-offs between local environmental pollution and climate policies, using the power generation sector in Brazil under different carbon scenarios up to 2050 as a case study. To this end, an integrated approach was developed, combining energy scenarios under different carbon mitigation targets and a local air pollution assessment model, tailored to the context of the Brazilian power sector. Results reveal that there are deep interactions between climate change mitigation and local air pollution abatement strategies. Increasing the diffusion of low-carbon technologies results in both mitigation of climate change and lower terrestrial acidification potential impacts, due to the rapid phase-out of fossil fuel power technologies. However, local air pollution indicators for particulate matter formation and human toxicity may rise in response to greenhouse gas emission mitigation constraints, indicating the existence of potential trade-offs. Some of these trade-offs can be offset by introducing available end-of-pipe pollution control measures reinforced by dedicated air quality policies.

Keywords: Energy use in the power sector; MESSAGE-Brazil; Environmental co-benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-018-2193-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:climat:v:148:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-018-2193-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10584

DOI: 10.1007/s10584-018-2193-3

Access Statistics for this article

Climatic Change is currently edited by M. Oppenheimer and G. Yohe

More articles in Climatic Change from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().