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Co-benefits of CO₂ emission reduction from China's clean air actions between 2013-2020.

ABSTRACT: Climate change mitigation measures can yield substantial air quality improvements while emerging clean air measures in developing countries can also lead to CO₂ emission mitigation co-benefits by affecting the local energy system. Here, we evaluate the effect of China's stringent clean air actions on its energy use and CO₂ emissions from 2013-2020. We find that widespread phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities during clean air actions have promoted the transformation of the country's energy system. The co-benefits of China's clean air measures far outweigh the additional CO₂ emissions of end-of-pipe devices, realizing a net accumulative reduction of 2.43 Gt CO₂ from 2013-2020, exceeding the accumulated CO₂ emission increase in China (2.03 Gt CO₂) during the same period. Our study indicates that China's efforts to tackle air pollution induce considerable climate benefit, and measures with remarkable CO₂ reduction co-benefits deserve further attention in future policy design.

SUBMITTER: Shi Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9419635 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Co-benefits of CO2 emission reduction from China's clean air actions between 2013-2020.

Shi Qinren Q Zheng Bo B Zheng Yixuan Y Tong Dan D Liu Yang Y Ma Hanchen H Hong Chaopeng C Geng Guannan G Guan Dabo D He Kebin K Zhang Qiang Q

Nature communications 20220827 1

Climate change mitigation measures can yield substantial air quality improvements while emerging clean air measures in developing countries can also lead to CO2 emission mitigation co-benefits by affecting the local energy system. Here, we evaluate the effect of China's stringent clean air actions on its energy use and CO2 emissions from 2013-2020. We find that widespread phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities during clean air a ...[more]

PMID: 36030262

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Project description:BackgroundTropospheric ozone and black carbon (BC), a component of fine particulate matter (PM ? 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter; PM(2.5)), are associated with premature mortality and they disrupt global and regional climate.ObjectivesWe examined the air quality and health benefits of 14 specific emission control measures targeting BC and methane, an ozone precursor, that were selected because of their potential to reduce the rate of climate change over the next 20-40 years.MethodsWe simulated the impacts of mitigation measures on outdoor concentrations of PM(2.5) and ozone using two composition-climate models, and calculated associated changes in premature PM(2.5)- and ozone-related deaths using epidemiologically derived concentration-response functions.ResultsWe estimated that, for PM(2.5) and ozone, respectively, fully implementing these measures could reduce global population-weighted average surface concentrations by 23-34% and 7-17% and avoid 0.6-4.4 and 0.04-0.52 million annual premature deaths globally in 2030. More than 80% of the health benefits are estimated to occur in Asia. We estimated that BC mitigation measures would achieve approximately 98% of the deaths that would be avoided if all BC and methane mitigation measures were implemented, due to reduced BC and associated reductions of nonmethane ozone precursor and organic carbon emissions as well as stronger mortality relationships for PM(2.5) relative to ozone. Although subject to large uncertainty, these estimates and conclusions are not strongly dependent on assumptions for the concentration-response function.ConclusionsIn addition to climate benefits, our findings indicate that the methane and BC emission control measures would have substantial co-benefits for air quality and public health worldwide, potentially reversing trends of increasing air pollution concentrations and mortality in Africa and South, West, and Central Asia. These projected benefits are independent of carbon dioxide mitigation measures. Benefits of BC measures are underestimated because we did not account for benefits from reduced indoor exposures and because outdoor exposure estimates were limited by model spatial resolution.

Project description:BackgroundAir pollution might accelerate cognitive ageing; it is unclear whether large-scale interventions, such as China's Clean Air Act (CCAA), can mitigate cognitive deterioration. We aimed to evaluate the effect of CCAA on changes in cognitive function in older adults.MethodsIn this population-based, quasi-experimental study, we did a difference-in-differences analysis of the data collected during the 2014 and 2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). The study design used a counterfactual analysis feature by dividing CLHLS participants into two groups. The intervention group included participants who lived in areas where the provincial government set a target of reducing particulate matter (PM) by at least 5% annually from 2014 onward, whereas the control group consisted of individuals who lived in areas without a PM reduction target. Global cognitive function was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). We used fixed-effects models to examine the between-group differences in MMSE score changes before and after CCAA implementation. We associated longitudinal changes in MMSE scores with changes in concentrations of PM with a diameter of less than 2·5 μm (PM2·5) concentration and other regulated pollutants. We used alternative models and sensitivity analyses to evaluate the robustness of the results from the main models.Findings2812 individuals participated in the 2014 and 2018 surveys (mean age 81·0 years [SD 9·3] in 2014; 1408 [50·1%] female and 1404 [49·9%] male). 2251 (80·0%) were included in the intervention group and 561 (20·0%) in the control group. After controlling for potential confounders, the intervention group had a significantly smaller decline in MMSE scores from 2014 to 2018 compared with the control group: the mean between-group difference was 2·45 points (95% CI 1·32-3·57). Interquartile increases in PM2·5 were associated with a significant MMSE score decline of 0·83 points (95% CI 0·24-1·42); similarly, increases in SO2 were also associated with a significant MMSE score decline of 0·80 points (0·32-1·29).InterpretationImplementing stringent clean air policies might mitigate the risk of air pollutant-associated cognitive ageing in older people.FundingNational Natural Sciences Foundation of China, National Key R&D Program of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project, the Duke/Duke-National University of Singapore Collaboration Pilot Project, the National Institute on Aging and Peking University-Baidu Fund, Energy Foundation, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Co-benefits of CO₂ emission reduction from China's clean air actions between 2013-2020.

Publications

Co-benefits of CO<sub>2</sub> emission reduction from China's clean air actions between 2013-2020.

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