Valuing Air Quality Impacts of Transportation: A Review of Literature

The monetary valuation of air quality impacts of transportation is increasingly being adopted when undertaking cost-benefit analysis of projects or strategies aimed at reducing the negative effects of transport on the environment. This paper provides a review of the evidence available on the most appropriate methodologies to be used for such air quality impact valuations. The paper deals with the main issues in identifying and categorising air quality impacts; the methodologies adopted to quantify mortality and morbidity effects of air pollution on health; and the valuations put forward by studies in Europe, the US and in Australia. Unit monetised values by pollutant are summarised in the paper. The valuations for each pollutant currently being proposed for Australian conditions have been derived using in some cases European values corrected for local conditions. There is considerable uncertainty in some of the estimates to warrant further research. There is little research or evidence available on non-health impacts of air quality deterioration, such as local and regional economic activity and employment effects due to loss of tourism revenues.