The efforts of China to combat air pollution during the period of 2015-2018: A case study assessing the environmental, health and economic benefits in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding "2 + 26" regions

Nan Zhao; Hussien Elshareef; Bowen Li; Baoming Wang; Zhuangzhuang Jia; Ling Zhou; Yong Liu; Muhammad Sultan; Renjie Dong; Yuguang Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158437

The efforts of China to combat air pollution during the period of 2015-2018: A case study assessing the environmental, health and economic benefits in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding "2 + 26" regions

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Dec 20:853:158437. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158437. Epub 2022 Aug 31.

Authors

Nan Zhao¹, Hussien Elshareef², Bowen Li², Baoming Wang³, Zhuangzhuang Jia⁴, Ling Zhou⁵, Yong Liu⁶, Muhammad Sultan⁷, Renjie Dong⁸, Yuguang Zhou⁹

Affiliations

¹ Bioenergy and Environment Science & Technology Laboratory, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; School of Ecology and Environment, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, He'nan Province 450001, China; Key Laboratory of Clean Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China.
² Bioenergy and Environment Science & Technology Laboratory, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Clean Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China; National Center for International Research of BioEnergy Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China.
³ School of Ecology and Environment, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, He'nan Province 450001, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Engineering, Department of Education of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tarim University, Alar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 843300, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Engineering, Department of Education of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tarim University, Alar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region 843300, China. Electronic address: zhouling690@sohu.com.
⁶ School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
⁷ Department of Agricultural Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan.
⁸ Bioenergy and Environment Science & Technology Laboratory, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Clean Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China; National Center for International Research of BioEnergy Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China; Yantai Institute, China Agricultural University, No. 2006 Binhai Zhonglu, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong Province 264670, China.
⁹ Bioenergy and Environment Science & Technology Laboratory, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Clean Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China; National Center for International Research of BioEnergy Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: zhouyg@cau.edu.cn.

PMID: 36057303
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158437

Abstract

During the period of 2015-2018, Chinese government had made great efforts to mitigate air pollutants, such as air quality monitoring, energy structure adjustment, and pollutant emission reduction from industry, transportation and household sectors. With the special investment of 152 billion Chinese Yuan (CNY) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and surrounding "2 + 26" regions, the annual local concentrations of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂ and NO₂ decreased from 77, 132, 38 and 46 μg/m³ to 60, 109, 20 and 43 μg/m³. It was estimated that the improvement in air quality avoided 27,021 (95 % CIs 12,548-39,738) premature deaths attributed to air pollution exposure based on an exposure-response function, including 45 %, 17 % and 15 % of cardiopulmonary, lung cancer and respiratory morality cases. Air pollution reduction was also effective in reducing work time loss, which reduced the total working time loss by 3.8 × 10⁷ (95 % CIs 1.8 × 10⁷-5.6 × 10⁷) h, and the per capita working time loss by 0.28 (95 % CIs 0.13-0.41) h/capita by 2018. From the economic aspect, air pollution control actions in those regions saved 95.6 (95 % CIs 44.2-141) billion CNY economic loss by using the value of statistical life (VSL). The total benefit-cost ratio was 63.7 % (95 % CIs 29.4 %-93.7 %). The cost-effectiveness in Beijing and Tianjin were relatively low due to the regional contribution from other cities of the air pollution transmission channel. Despite the uncertainties, the results clearly show the significance of the environmental, health and economic benefits of actions in the BTH and surrounding "2 + 26" regions for combating air pollution.

Keywords: Air pollution; Control action; Economic impact; Environmental improvement; Health assessments.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
Beijing
China
Cities
Environmental Monitoring
Nitrogen Dioxide
Particulate Matter / analysis

Substances

Particulate Matter
Nitrogen Dioxide
Air Pollutants