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Addressing Health Equity in the Context of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration Technologies

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To describe the role of health equity in the context of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies.

Recent Findings

CCUS technologies have the potential to both improve and worsen health equity. They could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a major contributor to climate change, but they could also have negative health impacts like air and noise pollution. More research is needed to fully understand the health equity implications of CCUS technologies.

Summary

CCUS technologies have both health equity risks and benefits. Implementing misguided CCUS projects in vulnerable communities could exacerbate environmental injustice and health disparities and have the potential to increase carbon emissions. However, well-conceived projects could benefit communities through economic development. Governments, industry, and society should prioritize and expedite the reduction of CO2 emissions before considering carbon reductions via CCUS. Furthermore, CCUS projects must be thoroughly evaluated and should only proceed if they have demonstrated a net reduction in CO2 emissions and provide more benefits than risks to local communities. This underscores the importance of prioritizing health equity in the planning of CCUS projects.

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Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Code availability

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Acknowledgements

The editors would like to thank Mark Z. Jacobson for handling the review of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Environmental Health Building, 1601 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    David Rojas-Rueda

  2. Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University, Environmental Health Building, 1601 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    David Rojas-Rueda & Kelly McAuliffe

  3. Emoza LLC, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Emily Morales-Zamora

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  1. David Rojas-Rueda
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  2. Kelly McAuliffe
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  3. Emily Morales-Zamora
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Contributions

David Rojas-Rueda: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, visualization, writing—original draft. Kelly McAuliffe: investigation, visualization, writing—review and editing. Emily Morales-Zamora: formal analysis, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to David Rojas-Rueda.

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Rojas-Rueda, D., McAuliffe, K. & Morales-Zamora, E. Addressing Health Equity in the Context of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration Technologies. Curr Envir Health Rpt (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-024-00447-6

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