Princeton-led study highlights widespread health co-benefits from all-of-society clean energy actions in the US

A Princeton study underscores the health benefits of an all-of-society clean energy transition, suggesting that coordinated policy efforts across various sectors and actors could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year.  

Transitioning to clean energy is not just about reducing carbon emissions - it’s also about saving lives.  According to a Princeton-led study, reducing emissions from American power plants, buildings, and vehicles not only mitigates climate change, but it also leads to significant improvements in air quality and reduces harmful pollutants like fine particulate matter (PM2.5).  

The Data and Methods

For this study, the researchers used a multi-scale modeling approach that combines energy system modeling,  air quality modeling and public health evidence to assess the health benefits in the United States.  Specifically, the study first estimated the energy and emissions impacts of various policy scenarios with actions from federal, state, city, and business actors. It then downscaled the emissions to fine scale and applied atmospheric chemical transport models to estimate changes in pollutant concentrations under different policy scenarios.  The researchers then linked these air quality changes to health outcomes using the exposure-response relationships derived from epidemiological studies.  

The study examined a range of clean energy and climate mitigation policies at the federal and local level, including transitioning to renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency in buildings and industry, and electrifying transportation.  By modeling how these policies affect the emissions of PM2.5 precursors, such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂), the researchers were able to quantify the extent in which air quality improvements from these policy actions translate into tangible, public health benefits.  

“This modeling approach stands out by evaluating the interactions of climate actions across federal, state, and local levels, unlike past studies that often focused on individual policies,” says lead author Xinyuan Huang, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.  “It also considers the changes in other factors like air pollution control policies and socioeconomic trends, providing a more realistic assessment of the health co-benefits from clean energy policies. This multidimensional assessment framework offers deeper insights into how climate and non-climate drivers shape future air quality and health outcomes, supporting more effective policy decisions.”

The Key Benefits

In addition to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the impacts of climate change, the study found that scaling up clean energy technologies like wind, solar, heat pumps, and electric vehicles leads to widespread health co-benefits across the country.  Specifically, areas that are expected to adopt clean energy policies to displace highly polluting activities such as coal, diesel, and biomass uses are able to reduce the emissions of SO2, NOx, and particulate matter, which help to mitigate PM2.5 exposure and associated respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.  According to the study’s estimates, combining federal and subnational clean energy actions can reduce 6,600 premature deaths nationally in 2030, with net health co-benefits found in every state and nearly all the US counties.

The Midwest and South would particularly benefit from these climate policies due to their high fossil fuel consumption and existing air quality challenges. These regions are projected to experience some of the largest percentage reductions in PM₂.₅-attributable deaths because of their current heavy reliance on coal and other polluting energy sources. 

“Under ambitious climate policies, states like West Virginia and Kentucky see PM2.5-attributable deaths decrease by over 19% in 2030, demonstrating the substantial health benefits of shifting away from fossil fuels,” says Huang.  “This highlights how climate actions not only reduce emissions but also bring significant air quality improvements to regions with historically high pollution levels.” 

The Implications

The study underscores the need for stronger, more comprehensive clean energy policies in all economic sectors and from all societal actors.  The researchers call for the acceleration of clean energy transitions across the country.  Since air quality and health are largely local concerns, improving the capacity of states and local actors would be important to implement scalable energy solutions that reduce emissions,  promote clean technologies, and bring local co-benefits.  

 In addition, coordinating the policy actions across energy, climate, and health dimensions is urgently needed to integrate health considerations into energy decisions. This study suggests that there is huge value in coordinating energy and air quality policy-making processes at the federal level. To ensure the benefits of clean energy are widely shared, decision-makers also need to consider the distributional consequences and invest in energy solutions that could also narrow the disparities in exposure and health outcomes. 

“The energy transition is complicated and sometimes contentious, partly because it involves a diverse group of stakeholders, ranging from federal, state, and local governments to businesses and communities”, says Dr. Wei Peng, an assistant professor at the School of Public and International Affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. “Figuring out how to leverage and combine actions from all these actors to maximize local benefits will be important to promote widespread public support for this transition. With a focus on the health benefits, this study aims to offer insights into this critical policy challenge ”.

Expert Contact: Wei Peng (weipeng@princeton.edu)

Media Contact: Cara Clase (cara.clase@princeton.edu)

The paper, “Substantial air quality and health co-benefits from combined federal and subnational climate action in the United States,” was published in One Earth on March 13th, 2025.  The authors of the paper include Xinyan Huang (Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Wei Peng (School of Public and International Affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University), Alicia Zhao (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland, College Park), Yang Ou (College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Peking University), Shannon kennedy (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland, College Park; Michigan Democratic Party, Lansing, Michigan), Gokul Iyer (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland, College Park), Haewon McJeon (KAIST Graduate School of Green Growth and Sustainability, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea, Ryna Cui (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland, College Park), and Nate Hultman (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland, College Park).  

This work was made possible with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) at the University of Maryland, as an analytical partner organization for the America Is All In coalition. X.H. and W.P. further acknowledge the funding support from NSF grant #2423254 and Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. H.M. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant number RS-2024-00467678). Y.O. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 72474002)).