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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Environmental Research Letters

Evaluating inter- and intra-regional air pollution inequalities in a decarbonized world

  • Jon Sampedro1,2
  • Clàudia Rodés-Bachs1
  • Dirk-Jan Van de Ven1
  • Cathryn Tonne3
  • Claudio Belis4
  • Sara Ciarlantini4
  • Mikel Gonzalez-Eguino1,2,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Scientific Campus of the University of the Basque Country
  2. 2Basque Foundation for Science
  3. 3CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública
  4. 4Joint Research Centre (JRC)
  5. 5University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
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Abstract

Ambient PM 2.5 exposure remains a major global health challenge. While pollution has declined in developed economies, it has increased in developing regions, exacerbating cross-country inequalities. Within-country disparities have narrowed in some contexts but remain significant. This study assesses how these inequalities evolve under alternative decarbonization futures, co-designed with stakeholders and aligned with current climate policy. Using an integrated assessment and air quality modelling framework, we find that international inequality in mortality burden widens over time even as income inequality across countries narrows, and that a country’s emission contribution is only moderately associated with its own exposure burden, driven more by aggregate scale than per-capita intensity. Within countries, wealthier deciles disproportionately drive emissions, but the contribution-exposure relationship shows no consistent direction, and exposure inequality itself varies enormously by country independent of income. These findings call for climate policies explicitly integrated with air quality, health, and equity objectives, tailored to where responsibility and impact diverge across scales.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{sampedro2026evaluating,
  title = {{Evaluating inter- and intra-regional air pollution inequalities in a decarbonized world}},
  author = {Jon Sampedro and Clàudia Rodés-Bachs and Dirk-Jan Van de Ven and Cathryn Tonne and Claudio Belis and Sara Ciarlantini and Mikel Gonzalez-Eguino},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aea9ad},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aea9ad},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Evaluating inter- and intra-regional air pollution inequalities in a decarbonized world
AU  - Jon Sampedro
AU  - Clàudia Rodés-Bachs
AU  - Dirk-Jan Van de Ven
AU  - Cathryn Tonne
AU  - Claudio Belis
AU  - Sara Ciarlantini
AU  - Mikel Gonzalez-Eguino
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/03
JO  - Environmental Research Letters
DO  - 10.1088/1748-9326/aea9ad
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aea9ad
AB  - Ambient PM 2.5 exposure remains a major global health challenge. While pollution has declined in developed economies, it has increased in developing regions, exacerbating cross-country inequalities. Within-country disparities have narrowed in some contexts but remain significant. This study assesses how these inequalities evolve under alternative decarbonization futures, co-designed with stakeholders and aligned with current climate policy. Using an integrated assessment and air quality modelling framework, we find that international inequality in mortality burden widens over time even as income inequality across countries narrows, and that a country’s emission contribution is only moderately associated with its own exposure burden, driven more by aggregate scale than per-capita intensity. Within countries, wealthier deciles disproportionately drive emissions, but the contribution-exposure relationship shows no consistent direction, and exposure inequality itself varies enormously by country independent of income. These findings call for climate policies explicitly integrated with air quality, health, and equity objectives, tailored to where responsibility and impact diverge across scales.
SN  - 1748-9326
ER  -