34 tons of fine particles
Air quality, a public health issue, particularly in urban areas
While climate change affects the entire planet, air pollution is more localised, and is concentrated in cities, where it affects health. A high concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere can cause asthma, bronchitis and cardiovascular diseases. The main pollutants are SOx, NOx and fine particles.
The air quality regulations are particularly focused on PM10 and PM2.5 fine particles (which are respectively less than 10 and 2.5 micrometres in diameter).
FM Logistic's transport activities indirectly generate 34 t of fine particles.
In the same way that the company has estimated the social cost of carbon related to its activities, it has also estimated the social cost of air pollution emitted by its transport partners. This cost is slightly over 750,000 euros for the 2019-20 financial year. Taking measurements in this way is one of the key steps in educating environmental stakeholders about environmental issues and makes it possible to gauge the merits of investments in ecological transition.
Researchers focusing on the effects of air pollution on health. The assessment of this impact follows two steps. First, it quantifies the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) caused by the emission of each air pollutant (NOx, SOx, PM, VOC, NH3). A DALY can be considered a year of “healthy life” lost The next step is to assess the DALYs in monetary terms using the “value of a statistical life” (VSL), i.e. the value that a given population assigns beforehand to prevent the death of an unidentified individual. VSL is the amount of money each individual is willing to pay for a given reduction in the risk of premature death, for example, as a result of air pollution-related diseases.
