The (uncertain) future of air quality

Augustin Colette (1) , Laaziz El Amraoui , Fabien Solmon

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques

The assessment of the future evolution of air quality requires accounting for both climate projections and the development of environmental policies. In the context of climate change adaptation, the geophysical changes to be expected in the decades to come will have an impact on chronic and extreme air pollution events (Jacob and Winner, 2009). But air quality is also sensitive to climate mitigation strategies: the social and technological changes required to reduce greenhouse gases emissions will also be accompanied by changes in the emission of air pollutants and precursors thereof. There are potentially large co-benefits between air quality and climate change mitigation that could help in leveraging efforts to engage in win-win strategies. But mitigating climate change can also potentially induce collateral damages to air quality. It is thus very important to precisely identify what are the co-benefits and the possible collateral damages in order to maximize the former while minimizing the later. Here we briefly review recent results on climate change impacts on Mediterranean regional air quality in terms of ozone and particles, and list identified positive and negative feedbacks of climate change on air quality.

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Augustin Colette, Laaziz El Amraoui, Fabien Solmon. The (uncertain) future of air quality. The mediterranean region under climate change. A Scientific Update, pp.183-188, 2016, 9782709922197. ⟨ineris-01863125⟩