Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada.
Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Can J Public Health. 2018 Dec;109(5-6):779-781. doi: 10.17269/s41997-018-0099-5. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Carbon pricing is an important tool for mitigating climate change. Carbon pricing can have significant health co-benefits. Air pollution from fossil fuels leads to detrimental health effects, including premature mortality, heart attacks, hospitalization from cardiorespiratory conditions, stroke, asthma exacerbations, and absenteeism from school and work, and may also be linked to autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's disease. Reduction in fossil fuel combustion through a carbon price can lead to improvements in all these areas of health. It can also improve health by encouraging active transportation choices and improving ecosystems. Furthermore, it can promote health equity in society and improve overall societal health where the revenue from carbon pricing is used as a progressive redistribution mechanism for low-income households. Hence, carbon pricing is a win-win environmental and public health policy and an important step toward achieving Canada's emission target by 2030. However, carbon pricing has several potential pitfalls which need to be considered in the design and implementation of any such policy. As Canada moves ahead with mandatory carbon pricing this fall, it is important to monitor its impact, evaluate it objectively, and modify and complement as necessary with policies and regulations.
碳定价是缓解气候变化的重要工具。碳定价可以带来显著的健康协同效益。化石燃料造成的空气污染对健康造成有害影响，包括过早死亡、心脏病发作、心肺疾病住院、中风、哮喘恶化、以及缺课和旷工，也可能与自闭症谱系障碍和阿尔茨海默病有关。通过碳价格减少化石燃料燃烧，可以改善所有这些健康领域的状况。它还可以通过鼓励选择积极的交通方式和改善生态系统来改善健康。此外，它可以促进社会公平，并提高整个社会的健康水平，将碳定价的收入作为低收入家庭的累进再分配机制。因此，碳定价是一项双赢的环境和公共卫生政策，也是实现加拿大 2030 年排放目标的重要步骤。然而，碳定价在设计和实施任何此类政策时都存在一些潜在的陷阱，需要加以考虑。随着加拿大今年秋季强制实行碳定价，重要的是要监测其影响，客观地评估它，并根据需要对政策和法规进行修改和补充。
