Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030
Climate policies targeting CO _2 emissions from fossil fuels can simultaneously reduce emissions of air pollutants and their precursors, thus mitigating air pollution and associated health impacts. Previous work has examined co-benefits of climate policy from reducing PM _2.5 in rapidly-developing c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab26ca |
| _version_ | 1797748086442819584 |
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| author | Mingwei Li Da Zhang Chiao-Ting Li Noelle E Selin Valerie J Karplus |
| author_facet | Mingwei Li Da Zhang Chiao-Ting Li Noelle E Selin Valerie J Karplus |
| author_sort | Mingwei Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate policies targeting CO _2 emissions from fossil fuels can simultaneously reduce emissions of air pollutants and their precursors, thus mitigating air pollution and associated health impacts. Previous work has examined co-benefits of climate policy from reducing PM _2.5 in rapidly-developing countries such as China, but have not examined co-benefits from ozone and its transboundary impact for both PM _2.5 and ozone. Here, we compare the air quality and health co-benefits of China’s climate policy on both PM _2.5 and ozone in China to their co-benefits in three downwind and populous countries (South Korea, Japan and the United States) using a coupled modeling framework. In a policy scenario consistent with China’s pledge to peak CO _2 emissions in approximately 2030, avoided premature deaths from ozone reductions are 54 300 (95% confidence interval: 37 100–71 000) in China in 2030, nearly 60% of those from PM _2.5 . Total avoided premature deaths in South Korea, Japan, and the US are 1200 (900–1600), 3500 (2800–4300), and 1900 (1400–2500), respectively. Total avoided deaths in South Korea and Japan are dominated by reductions in PM _2.5 -related mortality, but ozone plays a more important role in the US. Similar to co-benefits for PM _2.5 in China, co-benefits of China’s policy for ozone and for both pollutants in those downwind countries also rise with increasing policy stringency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:59:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bf03aef0d058401583b0e2c99b793097 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:59:57Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-bf03aef0d058401583b0e2c99b7930972023-08-09T14:41:48ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262019-01-0114808400610.1088/1748-9326/ab26caCo-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030Mingwei Li0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1896-3484Da Zhang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0790-9298Chiao-Ting Li2Noelle E Selin3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-5622Valerie J Karplus4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5493-9150Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of AmericaJoint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of America; Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University , Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaJoint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of America; Institute for Data, Systems and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of AmericaJoint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of America; Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA, United States of AmericaClimate policies targeting CO _2 emissions from fossil fuels can simultaneously reduce emissions of air pollutants and their precursors, thus mitigating air pollution and associated health impacts. Previous work has examined co-benefits of climate policy from reducing PM _2.5 in rapidly-developing countries such as China, but have not examined co-benefits from ozone and its transboundary impact for both PM _2.5 and ozone. Here, we compare the air quality and health co-benefits of China’s climate policy on both PM _2.5 and ozone in China to their co-benefits in three downwind and populous countries (South Korea, Japan and the United States) using a coupled modeling framework. In a policy scenario consistent with China’s pledge to peak CO _2 emissions in approximately 2030, avoided premature deaths from ozone reductions are 54 300 (95% confidence interval: 37 100–71 000) in China in 2030, nearly 60% of those from PM _2.5 . Total avoided premature deaths in South Korea, Japan, and the US are 1200 (900–1600), 3500 (2800–4300), and 1900 (1400–2500), respectively. Total avoided deaths in South Korea and Japan are dominated by reductions in PM _2.5 -related mortality, but ozone plays a more important role in the US. Similar to co-benefits for PM _2.5 in China, co-benefits of China’s policy for ozone and for both pollutants in those downwind countries also rise with increasing policy stringency.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab26caclimate policyair qualityhuman healthco-benefitstransboundary air pollution |
| spellingShingle | Mingwei Li Da Zhang Chiao-Ting Li Noelle E Selin Valerie J Karplus Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 Environmental Research Letters climate policy air quality human health co-benefits transboundary air pollution |
| title | Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| title_full | Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| title_fullStr | Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| title_short | Co-benefits of China’s climate policy for air quality and human health in China and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| title_sort | co benefits of china s climate policy for air quality and human health in china and transboundary regions in 2030 |
| topic | climate policy air quality human health co-benefits transboundary air pollution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab26ca |
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