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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Damage factors of stratospheric ozone depletion on human health impact with the addition of nitrous oxide as the largest contributor in the 2000s
Contributor:
Hayashi, Kentaro;
Itsubo, Norihiro
imprint:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023
Published in:The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1007/s11367-023-02174-w
ISSN:
0948-3349;
1614-7502
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p>Stratospheric ozone (O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>) depletion caused by O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>-depleting substances (ODSs) remains an unsolved issue. The leakage of older ODSs in the atmosphere continue to affect stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, and nitrous oxide (N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O) remains the largest contributor to stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion. The purpose of this study was to update the damage factors of stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion on human health impacts, particularly skin cancers and eye cataracts, for the years 2010 and 2015 by adding N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>The framework to derive damage factors followed that of our previous study; the marginal increase in total incidence per unit ODS emission was estimated using the following terms: ground surface emission, tropospheric chlorine loading, equivalent effective stratospheric chlorine (EESC), total O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> in the air column, ultraviolet-B (UV-B) at the ground surface, incidence due to erythemal UV-B exposure, standardized age structure, population, and ODS atmospheric lifetime. By multiplying the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per incidence by the marginal increase in total incidence per unit emission, the damage factor was obtained as the DALY per unit emission. The following update was made in this study: the addition of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O and revisions of the relationship between EESC and total O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, ODS lifetime, population, and DALY per incidence.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results and discussion</jats:title>
<jats:p>Damage factors of all ODSs regulated by the Montreal Protocol and of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O were calculated for melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancers, and eye cataracts. The total damage factors of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O were 2.1 × 10<jats:sup>–5</jats:sup> and 2.2 × 10<jats:sup>–5</jats:sup> DALY per kg nitrogen (N) in 2010 and 2015, respectively. These values were smaller than those of chlorofluorocarbons and halons; however, the global effect of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O on stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion was approximately 170,000 DALYs or 3.9 billion USD in 2010, accounting for 48% of the total damage. The damage factor of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O on climate change was estimated, based on existing literature, to be 27 times higher than that for stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion estimated in this study.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O is currently the largest contributor to stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion, which accounted for approximately 50% of the total health impact induced by all ODSs in 2010. Although another important impact of N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O, i.e., climate change, was demonstrated to be 27 times more damaging than stratospheric O<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> depletion, this means that N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O emissions contribute to two global environmental issues simultaneously. Thus, efforts to reduce N<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O emissions should be increased.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>