A systematic assessment of city-level climate change mitigation and air quality improvement in China

Li Zhang; Pengcheng Wu; Muchuan Niu; Yixuan Zheng; Junxia Wang; Guangxia Dong; Zhe Zhang; Zixuan Xie; Mengbing Du; Hanying Jiang; Hui Liu; Libin Cao; Lingyun Pang; Chen Lv; Yu Lei; Bofeng Cai; Yifang Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156274

A systematic assessment of city-level climate change mitigation and air quality improvement in China

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Sep 15:839:156274. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156274. Epub 2022 May 27.

Authors

Li Zhang¹, Pengcheng Wu², Muchuan Niu³, Yixuan Zheng⁴, Junxia Wang⁵, Guangxia Dong⁵, Zhe Zhang⁶, Zixuan Xie⁷, Mengbing Du⁸, Hanying Jiang⁹, Hui Liu¹⁰, Libin Cao⁶, Lingyun Pang⁶, Chen Lv⁶, Yu Lei¹¹, Bofeng Cai¹², Yifang Zhu¹³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Carbon Neutrality, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China; Institute of Environment and Sustainability, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
² School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
³ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
⁴ Center of Air Quality Simulation and System Analysis, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China.
⁵ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Quality Control in Environmental Monitoring, China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing 100012, China.
⁶ Center for Carbon Neutrality, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China.
⁷ Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States.
⁸ Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
⁹ School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
¹⁰ School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China.
¹¹ Center for Carbon Neutrality, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China; Center of Air Quality Simulation and System Analysis, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China. Electronic address: leiyu@caep.org.cn.
¹² Center for Carbon Neutrality, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China. Electronic address: caibf@caep.org.cn.
¹³ Institute of Environment and Sustainability, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States. Electronic address: yifang@ucla.edu.

PMID: 35644391
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156274

Abstract

China is facing dual challenges of air pollution and climate change. By using city-level data, we comprehensively assessed air quality and CO₂ emission changes from 2015 to 2019 for 335 Chinese cities. We selected important regions for air pollution control and categorized all cities into different classes according to their development levels. Our novel approach revealed new insights on different patterns of changes of PM_2.5, O₃, and CO₂ by region and city class. We found that PM_2.5 concentrations decreased remarkably due to mandatory city-level reduction targets, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (-27%) region. Nonetheless, O₃ concentrations and CO₂ emissions increased in 91% and 69% of Chinese cities, respectively. Observed CO₂ emission reductions in more developed cities were mainly due to prominent energy intensity reduction and energy structure improvement. Our study indicates a lack of synergy in air pollution control and CO₂ mitigation under current policies in China. To address both challenges holistically, we suggest setting mandatory city-level CO₂ emission reduction targets and reinforcing clean energy and energy efficiency measures.

Keywords: Air quality; Assessment; CO(2) emission; China; City level.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
Air Pollution* / prevention & control
Beijing
Carbon Dioxide
China
Cities
Climate Change
Environmental Monitoring
Particulate Matter / analysis
Quality Improvement

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Carbon Dioxide