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Chinese Ambient Air Pollution: An Investigation Into the Causes, Trends and Challenges, and an Evaluation of National Mitigation Policies

SSRN Electronic Journal
2020
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Article Description

Ambient air pollution (AAP; see glossary} is the world's largest environmental-health risk. For instance, AAP caused 3.7 million deaths in 2012, accounting for 53 deaths per global 100,000 capita (WHO, 2014). There are several motives for the Communist Party of China (CPC) to tackle AAP in China. Firstly, from an ethical perspective, it should be the CPC's priority to minimise the health damages and premature deaths caused by AAP, such as the 670,000 premature deaths in 2012 (Jing, 2014). Hence, it can be argued that failing to mitigate AAP would be immoral. Secondly, economically, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong estimate the cost of AAP to shave 267 billion yuan (US$38 billion; 0.7% of national GDP), off the Chinese economy each year in the form of early deaths and lost food production (Kao, 2018). Thirdly, China emitted 28.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2018, mainly from energy production (ChinaPower Project, 2019). This contributes to global warming through the enhanced greenhouse effect. Finally, reducing AAP by converting China's energy production from coal to greener, more efficient sources would help the CPC meet its climate objectives. The CPC has pledged to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, coinciding with its commitments to the Paris Agreement (Climateactiontracker, 2018}. Consequently, the CPC's clear political rationale comprises four key reasons for reducing AAP: it would alleviate human suffering, minimise economic costs, reduce its contribution to human-induced climate change through carbon emissions, and help the CPC meet its climate objectives. Successfully mitigating AAP in China is one of the most challenging issues for the CPC because of AAP's complex formation, with contributions from multiple precursors and sources (Lu, 2020). This project explores the complexity of AAP, and takes a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to explore the numerous facets of China's AAP. Section 1 of this project begins by analysing the various sources of AAP that form its complex chemical composition. Later in this section, this project focusses on the challenges of measuring AAP, and reviews the spatial and seasonal variation of AAP. The end of Section 1 investigates public concern of AAP in China. This project addresses public concern of AAP because, even with the CPC having the powers of social media censorship, the public's interest constitutes another motive for the CPC to mitigate AAP. Section 2 of this project focusses on national mitigation policies implemented for 2015- 2020. This policy analysis concludes that CPC has successfully mitigated China's AAP to some extent. Nevertheless, China's AAP remains severe, particularly in the Northeast region of the country. The second part of Section 2 emphasises the importance of the CPC's next national mitigation policies, for 2020-2025, and anticipates measures such as an absolute carbon cap or further limits on coal capacity. At the end of this project, there is an appendix to reveal the findings from primary research undertaken for this project, where Hangzhou locals elaborate on the AAP mitigation policies in their city. This primary research allows this project to include AAP mitigation on a local, city-wide scale, while the rest of the project focusses on policies on a nationwide scale. This project's main argument: • There is an extensive rationale for the CPC to mitigate AAP in China • There are many complex challenges to successfully mitigating AAP • The CPC has mitigated some of the causes of AAP, but levels remain high • The next national mitigation policies are important in facilitating the CPC to continue mitigating AAP

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