Aging in the Air: The Impact of Carbon Emissions on Health-Related Quality of Life

Résumé

In this paper, we analyse the impacts of climate change, in particular greenhouse gases on people’s life quality in general, and physical and mental health in particular. These outcomes are taken from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe which took place from 2004 to 2019. We provide a wealth of evidence that shows the adverse impacts of greenhouse gases emission. For instance, doubling the amount of carbon dioxide emission would reduce the quality of life of a person aged 50 by 3.8 percent. The effects on mental health are more noticeable than those on physical health. These effects are, however, not constant across ages. Middle-aged people are more vulnerable than older ones.