Economic valuation of air pollution-related mortality in France

Abstract

This article proposes a methodological discussion based on an economic evaluation of the mortality impacts of chronic exposure to fine particulate matter in mainland France. It starts from the health impact assessment carried out by Santé publique France in 2016 for 5 scenarios of decrease in concentrations using two methods to measure mortality (number of premature deaths prevented, and total number of life years gained). After a justification of the monetary values used – €3 million for the value for a prevented fatality and €80,000 for the value of a life year gained – we apply them to the health data and obtain results comparable to contemporary studies. In particular, in a scenario without anthropogenic pollution, the 2016 EQIS estimates that 48,283 premature deaths could be prevented, corresponding to an economic assessment of €144.85 billion. We then address methods and practices first identifying the sources of divergence with the previous French study conducted in 1998-99, whose assessment was 5 times lower despite higher particulate emissions. We next discuss the choice of monetary values and the conditions for using these results in public decision-making. Finally, we provide an additional argument on the need to reduce people’s exposure to ambient air pollution in France.