ABSTRACT

Climate change is one of the greatest global health challenges we currently face, but addressing it can be costly. This talk will assess the public health risks resulting from climate change's effects on air pollution. It will explore how the design of climate policy affects its costs and health-related benefits. It will examine the distribution of these impacts across jurisdictions and socioeconomic strata. Its presents evidence that greater cooperation - across jurisdictions and sectors - yields health benefits that can exceed policy costs.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Rebecca K. Saari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Saari studies the consequences of climate change and climate policy on human health and environmental inequality. As a professional air quality engineer in Ontario, she completed projects in seven Canadian provinces and territories. Dr. Saari has employed economic models, emissions models, atmospheric chemical transport models, and health response models to assess the costs and co-benefits of climate policy, energy policy, and transportation policy. Her work has been published in Nature Climate Change, and covered in over 16 news outlets including CBC, NBC, and the New York Times. She directly informs policy through invited presentations to state-level policymakers and the U.S. EPA Climate Change Division, and she was cited in an amicus brief submitted by leading climate scientists to the D.C. Circuit Court evaluation of the U.S. Clean Power Plan – the Obama Administration's centrepiece climate policy.