An Environmental Equity Framework to Design Sustainable Air Quality Standards

Air pollution is a leading global environmental and health threat, imposing heavy economic and social burdens that are unevenly distributed across populations and pose major challenges for sustainable development. This study develops a novel environmental equity framework for designing sustainable air quality standards at the national level, covering all Chilean communes. The analysis integrates satellite-derived PM2.5 estimates calibrated with ground-based monitoring stations, administrative health records and national socio-economic surveys to estimate the costs, benefits, and distributional impacts of alternative air quality standards. The results show that current PM2.5 exposure contributes to more than 5750 premature deaths annually and increases income inequality by about 6%. Implementing stricter standards yields substantial net social benefits, with a maximum benefit at an annual average concentration of around 10 µg/m3, simultaneously improving social sustainability by reducing pollution-adjusted inequality. However, achieving the strictest WHO target (5 µg/m3) would entail disproportionately high costs. The proposed framework provides a decision support tool for sustainability-oriented regulations, enabling policymakers to balance environmental protection, economic efficiency and social equity in the design of air quality standards.