The Mortal Cost of Carbon Emissions

A study in Nature Communications used public health data to assess the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on human deaths (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/29/carbon-emissions-americans-social-cost). The study estimated that, for every 4,434 metric tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere, one person will die prematurely from heatstroke. The study did not consider other consequences of such emissions on health, such as air pollution's effect on respiratory disorders. Three average Americans produce 4,434 metric tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes. Emissions vary greatly. It takes 25 Brazilians or 146 Nigerians to produce the same amount of planet-heating emissions. A single average coal-fired power plant, produces about 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. These emissions are likely to result in more than 900 heatstroke-related deaths. Eliminating planetary-heating emissions by 2050, can be calculated to save an expected 74 million lives around the world this century. All these mortality numbers are likely to be underestimates. They do, however, signal that carbon emissions are much more costly in human terms than their direct financial impacts. Carbon credits (if we end up using them) will have to be dramatically inflated!