Efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are usually framed as a global imperative, but new research from Greece and the United States is strengthening the case that slashing coal use and vehicle pollution delivers immediate, local health benefits as well.
A cluster of studies published in 2025 and 2026 examined what happened after the closure of lignite mines and power stations in West Macedonia, once Europe’s leading region for lignite mining. At its peak in 2005, the area’s six power plants supplied roughly 60% of Greece’s electricity. The subsequent shutdown and cleanup allowed researchers to track how people’s health responded to cleaner air.
Analyzing hospital data from 2011 to 2021, the team found that wintertime admissions for heart problems at the region’s main hospitals, which serve more than 200,000 residents, fell by between 22% and 42%. Over the same period, a hospital serving a rural area 50–100 km away saw heart admissions rise by about 2%. The share of patients with heart attacks and severe heart rhythm disturbances dropped to roughly one-third of 2011 levels at one of the hospitals studied. Wintertime sulfur dioxide concentrations fell by more than 90%, approaching detection limits, and particle pollution also improved. A separate survey by the University of West Macedonia found broad public agreement that decarbonisation had improved air quality, though perceptions of green investments varied across the region.
The findings echo what happened after a coal processing plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, closed in 2016. Sulfur dioxide levels fell by 90%, arsenic by 66%, and particle pollution improved. Emergency room visits for heart problems dropped by 42% immediately, with further declines continuing over the next three years until the study concluded in 2019.
Similar trends are emerging from low-emission and clean air zones designed to discourage older, more polluting vehicles. In Bradford, West Yorkshire, the introduction of a clean air zone was followed by roughly a 25% reduction in GP visits for heart and respiratory problems. London’s ultra-low emission zone was linked to improved lung health in children and fewer children with clinically impaired lung function. Among adults in central London, annual trends for emergency admissions fell by 3%, including an 8% reduction for heart problems and a 6% reduction for breathing problems.
The researchers described the regional transition in Greece as a microcosm of what could be achieved globally through sustained emission reductions: as the air cleared, fewer patients filled cardiac wards.