Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy

Chen, Yuyu; Ebenstein, Avraham; Greenstone, Michael; Li, Hongbin

doi:10.1073/pnas.1300018110

Cited by 1,406 publications

(684 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The PM 2.5 (PM with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) concentrations at 33 cities in the CEC region were more than 300 µg m −3 for longer than half a month, and some monitors reported hourly peak PM 2.5 levels of 900 µg m −3 , which is classified as "beyond index" (NDRC, 2013;Gu, 2013). The suffering of those in China from haze and poor air quality has attracted worldwide attention (Wang et al, 2014;Kan et al, 2012;Park et al, 2013;Zhao et al, 2013;Pope and Dockery, 2013;Chen et al, 2013b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate modulation of the Tibetan Plateau on haze in China

Zhao

Liu

et al. 2016

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Rapid increases in pollutant emissions in conjunction with stagnant meteorological conditions result in haze pollution in China. Recent frequent haze in China has attracted worldwide attention. Here we show a relationship between the haze events and Tibetan Plateau (TP)'s environment and climate changes. Based on observational data taken over recent decades, we identify central-eastern China (CEC) as a climatological large-scale "susceptible region" of frequent haze, which is harbored by the TP with its impact on midlatitude westerly winds. The observational and modeling studies demonstrate that the interannual variations in the thermal forcing of TP are positively correlated with the incidences of wintertime haze over CEC. Further analysis indicates that the climate warming of the TP induced changes in atmospheric circulation, driving frequent haze events in CEC. The frequent haze occurrences in CEC are consistent with decreasing winter monsoon winds, intensifying downward air flows and increasing atmospheric stability in the lower troposphere over the CEC in association with upstream plateau's thermal anomalies. Therefore, variations of haze in China are related to mechanical and thermal forcing by the TP. Our results also suggest that implications of the large TP topography for environment and climate changes should be taken into account for air pollution mitigation policies in China.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate modulation of the Tibetan Plateau on haze in China

Zhao

Liu

et al. 2016

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…Burning coal without environmental protection provisions has greatly increased total suspended particulates in the air, and in particular pollutes the in-door atmosphere (Larson 2010). As a result, Chen et al (2013) estimate that due to such politically induced pollution the 500 million residents …”

Section: Air Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

China in the anthropocene: Culprit, victim or last best hope for a global ecological civilisation?

Spangenberg¹

2014

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The anthropocene is the age where human influences are determining the development of the planet's ecosystems and thus the bio-physical basis of future human civilisations. Today China has become the world's largest economy and its worst polluter with per capita greenhouse gas emissions surpassing the EU average, the world's largest consumer of all kinds of resources. Even regarding the aggregate contribution to climate change (historical emission residues included), called the climate debt, China has not yet, but will be most probably climbing the top position rather soon.At the same time China is the world's largest victim of environmental change, including air and soil pollution, water and land scarcity, biodiversity loss and climate change.Thus not only slowing down the increase but reducing emissions should be a top priority for China, and it is: the government has taken some bold steps. China is the world's largest investor in renewable energies, has the largest afforestation program, and leads the world in reducing carbon dioxide emission reduction. As the largest polluter it has extraordinary opportunities to improve the global state of the environment -is it the world's last best hope for establishing a global ecological civilisation? Some implications regarding the Chinese environmental policy are discussed, some strengths highlighted and some weaknesses identified.However, despite their magnitude, the efforts-and in particular their implementation-are not yet sufficient. We suggest three additional steps which could help China to begin reducing its climate debt within a couple of decades, define a long term perspective for policy planning and adjust its growth model to the challenges of the anthropocene.

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“…The negative impact of pollution on life expectancy, especially for people with low-income levels, is a common conclusion of most academic works in the field. For example, it was applied the regression discontinuity analysis to demonstrate the negative relationship between total suspended particulates and life expectancy in China [1]. According to Mannuci et al [2], developing countries have a greater problem with exposure to ambient air pollution than developed countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution and Human Development in Europe: A New Index Using Principal Component Analysis

2018

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EU countries to measure human development incorporating the ambient PM2.5 concentration effect. Using a principal component analysis, we extract the information for 2010 and 2015 using the Real GDP/capita, the life expectancy at birth, tertiary educational attainment, ambient PM2.5 concentration, and the death rate due to exposure to ambient PM2.5 concentration for 29 European countries. This paper has two main results: it gives an overview about the relationship between human development and ambient PM2.5 concentration, and second, it provides a new quantitative measure, PHDI, which reshapes the concept of human development and the exposure to ambient PM2.5 concentration. Using rating classes, we defined thresholds for both HDI and PHDI values to group the countries in four categories. When comparing the migration matrix from 2010 to 2015 for HDI values, some countries improved the development indicator (Romania, Poland, Malta, Estonia, Cyprus), while no downgrades were observed. When comparing the transition matrix using the newly developed indicator, PHDI, the upgrades observed were for Denmark and Estonia, while some countries like Spain and Italy moved to a lower rating class due to ambient PM2.5 concentration.

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Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy

Cited by 1,406 publications

References 22 publications

Climate modulation of the Tibetan Plateau on haze in China

Climate modulation of the Tibetan Plateau on haze in China

China in the anthropocene: Culprit, victim or last best hope for a global ecological civilisation?

Air Pollution and Human Development in Europe: A New Index Using Principal Component Analysis

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