SignificanceThe Chinese government has taken efforts to tackle the nation’s severe ambient fine particle (PM2.5) pollution. Our results suggest that reduced household solid-fuel consumption was the leading contributor to the rapid decrease in the integrated exposure to ambient and household PM2.5 pollution during 2005–2015, even though there was no explicit household control policy. In contrast, the emission reductions from power plants, industry, and transportation contributed much less to the decrease of integrated exposure. Clean household heating fuels have become part of recent control policies in northern China, but such policy would be strengthened if extended to heating and cooking countrywide since shift of the remaining household solid fuels to clean fuels could additionally avoid an estimated half-million premature deaths annually.

China is one of the regions with highest PM concentration in the world. In this study, we review the spatio-temporal distribution of PM mass concentration and components in China and the effect of control measures on PM concentrations. Annual averaged PM concentrations in Central-Eastern China reached over 100μgm, in some regions even over 150μgm. In 2013, only 4.1% of the cities attained the annual average standard of 35μgm. Aitken mode particles tend to dominate the total particle number concentration. Depending on the location and time of the year, new particle formation (NPF) has been observed to take place between about 10 and 60% of the days. In most locations, NPF was less frequent at high PM mass loadings. The secondary inorganic particles (i.e., sulfate, nitrate and ammonium) ranked the highest fraction among the PM species, followed by organic matters (OM), crustal species and element carbon (EC), which accounted for 6-50%, 15-51%, 5-41% and 2-12% of PM, respectively. In response to serious particulate matter pollution, China has taken aggressive steps to improve air quality in the last decade. As a result, the national emissions of primary PM, sulfur dioxide (SO), and nitrogen oxides (NO) have been decreasing since 2005, 2006, and 2011, respectively. The emission control policies implemented in the last decade could result in noticeable reduction in PM concentrations, contributing to the decreasing PM trends observed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. However, the control policies issued before 2010 are insufficient to improve PM air quality notably in future. An optimal mix of energy-saving and end-of-pipe control measures should be implemented, more ambitious control policies for NMVOC and NH should be enforced, and special control measures in winter should be applied. 40-70% emissions should be cut off to attain PM standard.

China took aggressive air pollution control measures from 2013 to 2017, leading to the mitigation of atmospheric mercury pollution as a cobenefit. This study is the first to systematically evaluate the effect of five major air pollution control measures in reducing mercury emissions, the total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentration and mercury deposition flux (FLX) for unit emissions reduction. From 2013 to 2017, China’s mercury emissions decreased from 571 to 444 tons, resulting in a 0.29 ng m–3 decrease in the TGM concentration, on average, and in a 17 μg m–2 yr–1 decrease in FLX. Ultralow emission renovations of coal-fired power plants are identified as the most effective emission abatement measure. As a result of this successful measure, coal-fired power plants are no longer the main mercury emitters. In 2017, the cement clinker sector became the largest emitter due to the use of less effective mercury removal measures. However, in terms of the mitigated TGM concentration and FLX levels per unit emission abatement, newly built wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) systems in coal-fired industrial boilers have become particularly effective in decreasing FLX levels. Therefore, to effectively reduce atmospheric mercury pollution in China, prioritizing mercury emissions control of cement clinkers and coal-fired industrial boilers is recommended.

Background:In 2013, China released the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (Action Plan), which set the roadmap for national air pollution control actions for the period of 2013 to 2017. A decrease in the fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5μm (PM2.5) concentration may lead to a substantial benefit for human health.Objective:We aimed to quantify the relative contributions four factors: emission reductions, changed meteorology, population growth, and a change in baseline mortality rates to the reduced PM2.5-related mortality (PM2.5-mortality) during the 2013–2017 period and evaluate the importance of emission controls for human health protection in China.Methods:The integrated exposure–response function was adopted to estimate the chronic health effects of PM2.5. The annual PM2.5 concentrations were estimated from chemical transport model simulations combined with surface observations for 2013 and 2017. Relative contributions to PM2.5-mortality from emission reductions and the three factors were individually quantified through scenario analysis.Results:The estimated total PM2.5-mortality in China was 1.389 million [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.005 million, 1.631 million] in 2013 but was substantially reduced to 1.102 million (95% CI: 0.755 million, 1.337 million) in 2017. Emission controls contributed 88.7% to this reduction in PM2.5-mortality, while changed meteorology, the change in baseline mortality rates, and population growth during 2013–2017 contributed 9.6, 3.8, and −2.2%, respectively.Conclusions:The implementation of the Action Plan has significantly reduced the PM2.5 concentration in regions of China where population density is high, dominating the decline in PM2.5-mortality during 2013–2017. However, the health burden of PM2.5 pollution in China is still extremely high compared with that in other developed countries. An aggressive air pollution control strategy should be implemented in densely populated areas to further reduce the health burden. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4157

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China is challenged with the simultaneous goals of improving air quality and mitigating climate change. The “Beautiful China” strategy, launched by the Chinese government in 2020, requires that all cities in China attain 35 μg/m3or below for annual mean concentration of PM2.5(particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) by 2035. Meanwhile, China adopts a portfolio of low-carbon policies to meet its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) pledged in the Paris Agreement. Previous studies demonstrated the cobenefits to air pollution reduction from implementing low-carbon energy policies. Pathways for China to achieve dual targets of both air quality and CO2mitigation, however, have not been comprehensively explored. Here, we couple an integrated assessment model and an air quality model to evaluate air quality in China through 2035 under the NDC scenario and an alternative scenario (Co-Benefit Energy [CBE]) with enhanced low-carbon policies. Results indicate that some Chinese cities cannot meet the PM2.5target under the NDC scenario by 2035, even with the strictest end-of-pipe controls. Achieving the air quality target would require further reduction in emissions of multiple air pollutants by 6 to 32%, driving additional 22% reduction in CO2emissions relative to the NDC scenario. Results show that the incremental health benefit from improved air quality of CBE exceeds 8 times the additional costs of CO2mitigation, attributed particularly to the cost-effective reduction in household PM2.5exposure. The additional low-carbon energy polices required for China’s air quality targets would lay an important foundation for its deep decarbonization aligned with the 2 °C global temperature target.