Minding the Climate Gap: Environmental Health and Equity Implications of Climate Change Mitigation Policies in California

Abstract

Analyses on the equity issues associated with climate change and the mitigation strategies that aim to attenuate it tend to focus on the international scale. These analyses tend to cite developing countries as the most vulnerable and disproportionately affected, and thus, the most likely to benefit from sound policies. However, fewer studies focus on the intra-national context within industrialized countries and the potential disparate impacts and benefits of climate change mitigation on lower socioeconomic groups and communities of color. In this article we investigate the costs and benefits of climate change mitigation strategies—some of which have been specified in the Scoping Plan for the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). We discuss: (1) the environmental equity concerns regarding certain forms of climate change mitigation; (2) the health co-benefits of AB 32 GHG mitigation policies; (3) the economic implications of different climate change policies on households of low socioeconomic status; and (4) future steps and research needs to leverage GHG mitigation as a health and economic opportunity for vulnerable communities that face disproportionate exposures to social stressors and environmental hazards.