Impacts of climate change mitigation and clean cooking access on future childhood stunting in India
Year: 2021
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM: Many children in India face the double health burden of high exposure to ambient (AAP) and household air pollution. Although climate change mitigation is expected to decrease AAP, climate policies could increase the cost of clean fuels. We aimed to quantify the impacts of climate change mitigation and clean cooking access on future childhood stunting in India. METHODS: We linked 2015-2016 Demographic Health Survey data with satellite-based particulate matter (PM2.5) data to estimate the association between in-utero exposure to ambient PM2.5, cooking fuel type, and stunting among children 5 years. Ambient PM2.5 and clean cooking access were projected under global climate change mitigation scenarios in line with the 2°C Paris Agreement target and a range of national energy access scenarios with an integrated assessment model. We used a modified substitution estimator approach to estimate the number of children with stunted growth under each scenario in 2030 and 2050 according to state and urbanicity and accounting for demographic change. RESULTS:In-utero exposure to ambient PM2.5 significantly increased the odds of child stunting (OR: 1.04, 95%CI: 1.05-1.03 per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and clean compared to polluting cooking fuel decreased the odds of stunting (OR: 0.86, 95%CI: 088-0.84) in confounder-adjusted models. Under the 2°C target and a range of policies to support clean energy access, national average exposure to ambient PM2.5 was 45.9 μg/m3 and clean cooking access was 74% -97% in 2050 compared to 57.4 μg/m3 and 91%-99% under business-as-usual. Reductions in AAP under the 2°C Paris Agreement target prevented stunting in 1 million children in rural and 0.8 million in urban areas in India in 2050 compared to business-as-usual. CONCLUSIONS:Air pollution reductions achieved by meeting the Paris Agreement target combined with policies to offset increased costs of clean cooking could contribute to improved linear growth in young children in India. KEYWORDS: co-benefits, clean cooking access, childhood stunting
Source: ISEE Conference Abstracts
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3194040658