Ambient PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure and expected premature mortality to 2100 in India under climate change scenarios.

Chowdhury, Sourangsu; Dey, Sagnik; Smith, Kirk R · Nat Commun · 2018

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Abstract

Premature mortality from current ambient fine particulate (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) exposure in India is large, but the trend under climate change is unclear. Here we estimate ambient PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure up to 2100 by applying the relative changes in PM<sub>2.5</sub> from baseline period (2001-2005) derived from Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project 5 (CMIP5) models to the satellite-derived baseline PM<sub>2.5</sub>. We then project the mortality burden using socioeconomic and demographic projections in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios. Ambient PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure is expected to peak in 2030 under the RCP4.5 and in 2040 under the RCP8.5 scenario. Premature mortality burden is expected to be 2.4-4 and 28.5-38.8% higher under RCP8.5 scenario relative to the RCP4.5 scenario in 2031-2040 and 2091-2100, respectively. Improved health conditions due to economic growth are expected to compensate for the impact of changes in population and age distribution, leading to a reduction in per capita health burden from PM<sub>2.5</sub> for all scenarios except the combination of RCP8.5 exposure and SSP3.

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