1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System
Modelling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
2State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and
Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
3Laboratory for Climate and Ocean–Atmosphere Studies,
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics,
Peking University, Beijing, China
4Center for International Climate and Environmental Research
– Oslo, 0318 Oslo, Norway
5Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China
6School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
7Department of Earth System Science, University of
California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System
Modelling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
2State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and
Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
3Laboratory for Climate and Ocean–Atmosphere Studies,
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics,
Peking University, Beijing, China
4Center for International Climate and Environmental Research
– Oslo, 0318 Oslo, Norway
5Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China
6School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
7Department of Earth System Science, University of
California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence: Qiang Zhang (qiangzhang@tsinghua.edu.cn) and Steven J. Davis
(sjdavis@uci.edu)
Received: 21 Mar 2017 – Discussion started: 22 Mar 2017 – Revised: 30 Jun 2017 – Accepted: 23 Jul 2017 – Published: 05 Sep 2017
Abstract. Air quality is a major environmental concern in China, where premature deaths due to air pollution have exceeded 1 million people per year in recent years. Here, using a novel coupling of economic, physical and epidemiological models, we estimate the premature mortality related to anthropogenic outdoor PM2.5 air pollution in seven regions of China in 2010 and show for the first time how the distribution of these deaths in China is determined by a combination of economic activities and physical transport of pollution in the atmosphere. We find that 33 % (338 600 premature deaths) of China's PM2.5-related premature mortality in 2010 were caused by pollutants emitted in a different region of the country and transported in the atmosphere, especially from north to south and from east to west. Trade further extended the cross-regional impact; 56 % of (568 900 premature deaths) China's PM2.5-related premature mortality was related to consumption in another region, including 423 800 (42 % of total) and 145 100 (14 %) premature deaths from domestic consumption and international trade respectively. Our results indicate that multilateral and multi-stage cooperation under a regional sustainable development framework is in urgent need to mitigate air pollution and related health impacts, and efforts to reduce the health impacts of air pollution in China should be prioritized according to the source and location of emissions, the type and economic value of the emitting activities, and the related patterns of consumption.
Effective and efficient control of air pollution relies upon an understanding of the pollution sources. We conduct an interdisciplinary study and find that 33 % of China’s PM2.5-related premature mortality in 2010 were caused by production emission in other regions; 56 % of the mortality was related to consumption in other regions. Multilateral and multi-stage cooperation under a regional sustainable development framework is in urgent need to mitigate air pollution and related health impacts.
Effective and efficient control of air pollution relies upon an understanding of the pollution...
