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The estimated cost of measures to limit Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions can be more than offset by reductions in deaths and disease from air pollution, researchers said on 3 March 2018. It would cost $22.1 trillion to $41.6 trillion between 2020 and 2050 for the world to hold average global warming under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a team projected in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. For the lower, aspirational limit of 1.5 degree Celsius, the cost would be between $39.7 trillion and $56.1 trillion, they estimated. But air pollution deaths could be reduced by 21-27% to about 100 million between 2020 and 2050 under the 2 degrees Celsius scenario, the team estimated, and by 28-32% to about 90 million at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Health costs from air pollution include medical treatment, patient care, and lost productivity. The countries likely to see the biggest health savings were air pollution-ridden India and China, said the researchers.
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