Air pollution has severe negative impacts on human health and environment. Monetary value of these negative impacts for people and society can be assessed with various methods. National level damage cost estimates that take into account country-specific circumstances, e.g. location of emission sources and population have been developed in several countries. However, in Finland such comprehensive assessment framework has been lacking so far. The main objective of the IHKU project is to develop a national level air pollution damage cost model for Finland to support strategic policy making.
The IHKU damage cost model will concentrate primarily on health costs, the biggest damage cost caused by air pollution. Other costs will be assessed based on literature review of earlier studies and they will be compared to the health costs estimated in IHKU. An additional objective of the project is to present different concepts and methods of damage costs in a popular manner. Furthermore, earlier estimates of damage costs in Finland and other countries will be reviewed and their feasibility for current Finnish circumstances will be assessed. Uncertainties of the IHKU model will be assessed and presented in a popular manner.
Further information:
Head of Unit Niko Karvosenoja, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, firstname.lastname@syke.fi
Air Pollution and Mitigation of Climate Change