Emission Initiative Could Save $8.3B

California's plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions could cut the state's healthcare costs by $8.3 billion by 2025, according to a new analysis by the American Lung Association and the Environmental Defense Fund.

The bill mandating the use of less carbon-intensive fuels and the cap and trade of carbon emission credits, was signed into law in 2006. Currently, about 300 major industrial polluters are required to trade and cap their carbon emissions. Next year, gasoline and natural gas consumed in California will have to emit lower carbon emissions as well.

The study, known as “Driving California Forward,” concluded that most of the healthcare savings are tied to fewer asthma attacks and hospitalizations related to respiratory and cardiac conditions over the remainder of the decade. Altogether, it predicts there will be 38,000 fewer asthma attacks, 597 fewer heart attacks and 882 fewer premature deaths by 2020 than originally forecast.

“It's critical we preserve the policies that strengthen the health of our communities,” said Robert Sawyer, M.D., advocacy chair for the American Lung Association's in California.