在美國，由二氧化碳排放所導致的全球氣溫每升高攝氏1度，所造成的空氣污染一年將會導致大約1000名死亡人數，和更多的呼吸器官疾病、氣喘病例的增加，這項研究由新史丹佛大學研究中心於3日發表。全世界每年溫度每上升1度，就有2萬件以上與空氣污染相關的死亡事件，這些意外可能和造成溫室效應的二氧化碳排放相關。
這項第一個追蹤二氧化碳排放和健康關係的研究，記錄了在大氣中二氧化碳的增加幅度和人類死亡率的直接關連。
對於加州人來說，這個連結更為明顯，傑寇森的論文提供了明確的證據，證實如果二氧化碳量增加，加州的處境將會更加艱難。
這個研究發現，二氧化碳的暖化效果對於污染原本就很嚴重的地區會更加明顯，加州是全美十大空氣品質最差城市的第6名，如果沒有新針對二氧化碳設限的法規限制，很可能該州會面臨日益增加的死亡率。
這項新的發現被刊登在《地球物理學研究學》期刊，正好在美國環境保護署否決了各州自行設定溫室氣體排放標準的提案之後，公諸於世。這項提案之所以被否決，是因為缺乏呈現二氧化碳排放和其影響健康因素的資料。
在2007年12月19日，美國環保署否決了加州和其他16州自行設定二氧化碳排放標準的提案，目前這個措施並不在法律規範之下。環保署否決這項提案的部分理由是沒有任何根據顯示各州的情形會有個別特殊差異。
環保署官員強生表示，加州的提案之所以被否決是因為他們沒有證據證實有極端及有說服力的情況，顯示聯邦有必要制訂統一的標準。
傑寇森表示，「如果加州是10個污染程度最嚴重城市的第6名，這就已經是一個有特殊情形的個案了。」
For each increase of one degree Celsius in the global temperature caused by carbon dioxide emissions, the resulting air pollution would lead annually to about 1,000 additional deaths and many more cases of respiratory illness and asthma across the United States, finds new Stanford University research released today. Worldwide, upward of 20,000 air pollution related deaths per year per degree Celsius may be due to heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions.
The research is the first to track the health effects of carbon dioxide emissions. It documents the direct links between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases in human mortality.
For Californians the effect is even greater. Jacobson’s paper offers concrete evidence that California is facing a particularly difficult situation if carbon dioxide emissions increase.
The study finds that the effects of carbon dioxide’s warming are greatest where pollution is already severe. Given that California has six of the 10 U.S. cities with the worst air quality; the state is likely to bear an increasingly disproportionate burden of death if no new restrictions are placed on carbon dioxide emissions.
The new findings, to be published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters," come to light just after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling against states setting their own emission standards for this greenhouse gas based in part on the lack of data showing the link between carbon dioxide emissions and their health effects.
On December 19, 2007, the EPA denied California and 16 other states a waiver that would have allowed the states to set their own emission standards for carbon dioxide, which is not currently regulated. The EPA denied the waiver partly on the grounds that no special circumstances existed to warrant an exception for the states.
Stephen Johnson, the EPA administrator, said California’s petition for a waiver of federal standards was denied because the state had failed to prove the "extraordinary and compelling conditions" required to qualify for a waiver.
"With six of the 10 most polluted cities in the nation being in California, that alone creates a special circumstance for the state," Jacobson said.
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