Air pollution reduction in China: Recent success but great challenge for the future

Abstract

China's rapid economic growth has caused severe air pollution, raising serious concerns about the growing evidence of its negative health, environmental, and economic impacts. Consequently, the Chinese government has implemented a number of policies and measures to reduce air pollution. Relying on published information over the last three decades in China, we analyzed trends in air pollutant emissions (SO₂ and NO_x) and concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O₃). During the past decade, SO₂ and NO_x emissions had declined throughout China and concentrations of PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ had considerably decreased in most cities, but average reported 90th MDA8 O₃, M7, and AOT40 O₃ for 31 capital cities showed an increasing trend between 2013 and 2017. Despite progress in air pollution reduction and an increasing number of "clear sky" days, PM concentrations throughout China remain higher than the World Health Organization guidelines, and urban smog and haze remain a major threat to human health and the environment. Thus far, significant emission reductions have occurred largely through robust administrative power, especially when emission reductions were tied to the performance evaluations and promotion of government officials. Similar to most already-industrialized nations, China is now shifting away from SO₂-dominated to NO_x- and O₃-dominated air pollution. Existing technologies and improved operations of existing control equipment appear unlikely to achieve sufficient reductions in NO_x and O₃ pollution. Considering the complex relationship between O₃, NO_x, VOCs, weather, and socio-economic changes in China, it is necessary to increase research on impacts of increasing ozone on plants and to adopt novel technologies and implemented to further reduce air pollution to levels that will protect human health and the environment.

Keywords: Administrative power; Air pollution; Challenges; Policies; Pollution reduction.