scholarly journals Decoupling Analysis between Economic Growth and Air Pollution in Key Regions of Air Pollution Control in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6600
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Lipeng Hou ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Lina Tang

The Chinese government has implemented a number of environmental policies to promote the continuous improvement of air quality while considering economic development. Scientific assessment of the impact of environmental policies on the relationship between air pollution and economic growth can provide a scientific basis for promoting the coordinated development of these two factors. This paper uses the Tapio decoupling theory to analyze the relationship between regional economic growth and air pollution in key regions of air pollution control in China—namely, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and surrounding areas (BTHS), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and the Pearl River Delta (PRD)—based on data of GDP and the concentrations of SO2, PM10, and NO2 for 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2019. The results show that the SO2, PM10, and NO2 pollution in the key regions show strong and weak decoupling. The findings additionally indicate that government policies have played a significant role in improving the decoupling between air pollution and economic development. The decoupling between economic growth and SO2 and PM10 pollution in the BTHS, YRD, and PRD is better than that in other regions, while the decoupling between economic growth and NO2 pollution has not improved significantly in these regions. To improve the relationship between economic growth and air pollution, we suggest that the governments of China and other developing countries should further optimize and adjust the structure of industry, energy, and transportation; apply more stringent targets and measures in areas of serious air pollution; and strengthen mobile vehicle pollution control.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ka Lok Chan ◽  
Zhuoru Wang ◽  
Aijun Ding ◽  
Klaus-Peter Heue ◽  
Yicheng Shen ◽  
...  

Abstract. In this paper, we present long term observations of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) in Nanjing using a Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instrument. Ground based MAX-DOAS measurements were performed from April 2013 to February 2017. The MAX-DOAS measurements of NO2 and HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) are used to validate OMI satellite observations over Nanjing. The comparison shows that the OMI observations of NO2 correlate well with the MAX-DOAS data with Pearson correlation coefficient (R) of 0.91. However, OMI observations are on average a factor of 3 lower than the MAX-DOAS measurements. Replacing the a priori NO2 profiles by the MAX-DOAS profiles in the OMI NO2 VCD retrieval would increase the OMI NO2 VCDs by ~ 30 % with correlation nearly unchanged. The comparison result of MAX-DOAS and OMI observations of HCHO VCD shows a good agreement with R of 0.75 and the slope of the regression line is 0.99. We developed a new technique to assemble the source contribution map using backward trajectory analysis. The age weighted backward propagation approach is applied to the MAX-DOAS measurements of NO2 and HCHO to reconstruct the spatial distribution of NO2 and HCHO over the Yangtze River Delta during summer and winter time. The reconstructed NO2 fields show a distinct agreement with OMI satellite observations. However, due to the short atmospheric lifetime of HCHO, the backward propagated HCHO data does not show a strong spatial correlation with the OMI HCHO observations. The result shows the MAX-DOAS measurements are sensitive to the air pollution transportation in the Yangtze River Delta, indicating the air quality in Nanjing is significantly influenced by regional transportation of air pollutants. The MAX-DOAS data are also used to evaluate the effectiveness of air pollution control measures implemented during the Youth Olympic Games 2014. The MAX-DOAS data show a significant reduction of ambient aerosol, NO2 and HCHO (30 %–50 %) during the Youth Olympic Games. Our results provide a better understanding of the transportation and sources of pollutants in over the Yangtze River Delta as well as the effect of emission control measures during large international event, which are important for the future design of air pollution control policies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Dai ◽  
Na He ◽  
Haizong Yu

ABSTRACT Industry 4.0 uses many technologies, such as smart sensors and IoT, to fundamentally improve manufacturing processes. These advanced tools can also be utilized by auditors for the purpose of achieving real-time auditing and monitoring, pushing the profession toward a new generation: “Audit 4.0.” Blockchains and smart contracts should be utilized to overcome new challenges in the transformation toward Audit 4.0. This paper explores the potential of blockchain and smart contracts to reengineer current audit procedures, thereby enabling Audit 4.0. First, this paper demonstrates a framework that summarizes where blockchain and smart contracts should be applied to help implement Audit 4.0. Then, it designs and implements a system to facilitate accountability audit for Chinese government officials regarding air pollution control. In this case, real air quality data are collected via crowdsourcing, verified and analyzed by blockchain and smart contracts to achieve a continuous audit of government officials' performance on air protection.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Gao ◽  
Weixin Yang ◽  
Yunpeng Yang ◽  
Guanghui Yuan

The evaluation of China’s air pollution and the effectiveness of its governance policies is currently a topic of general concern in the academic community. We have improved the traditional evaluation method to construct a comprehensive air quality assessment model based on China’s major air pollutants. Using the daily air pollutant data of 2015–2018, we calculated and analyzed the monthly air quality of nine cities in the Pearl River Delta of China, and conducted a comparative study on the effect of the air pollution control policies of the cities in the Pearl River Delta. We found that the air quality control policies in those nine cities were not consistent. Specifically, the pollution control policies of Guangzhou and Foshan have achieved more than 20% improvement. The pollution control policies of Dongguan and Zhaoqing have also achieved more than 10% improvement. However, due to the relative lag of the formulation and implementation of air pollution control policies, the air quality of Jiangmen, Zhuhai and Zhongshan has declined. Based on the analysis of the air quality assessment results and the effects of governance policies in each city during the study period, we propose suggestions for further improvement of the effectiveness of air pollution control policies in the region.


2021 ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
R. FENG ◽  
◽  
◽  

In February 2012 a war has been declared by the Chinese government against the nagging air pollution, which takes a mounting death toll annually. The three-pronged national-scale regulations of afforestation/silviculture, ultra-low emission, and energy structure reform have been carried out firmly by authorities, etching the determination of the nation to implement the WHO’s recommended interim target of air pollution control. Undeniably, preliminary battle against air pollution has achieved initial success. Eight years after the declaration air pollution has been controlled to an acceptable level, compellingly demonstrating the validity of current policy, even with continued reasons for skepticism and gaps in scientic knowledge. However, the accruing trend of tropospheric O3 in the surface air and high level of wintertime PM2.5 signify this en masse war is far from winning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 867-869
Author(s):  
Hepeng Jia

Abstract With a doctorate degree from the University of Wuppertal in Germany (1991), Tong Zhu is a Cheung Kong Chair Professor of Environmental Sciences at Peking University (PKU). He is a leading scientist in atmospheric pollution study and has been advising the Chinese government on controlling air pollution in the event of major international activities in China, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He served as a co-chair of the scientific steering committee of International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) and now is the chair of the Expert Panel of the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Major Research Program, ‘Fundamental researches on the formation and response mechanism of air pollution complex in China’. His research is focused on air pollution related chemical reactions, health effects of environmental pollution, megacity and regional air pollution control, and the air surface exchange and global biogeochemistry. To better understand the current status of the atmospheric pollution research in China and its contribution to air pollution control, the National Science Review made an exclusive interview with Prof. Zhu.


Author(s):  
Xiao Gong ◽  
Jianing Mi ◽  
Chunyan Wei ◽  
Ruitao Yang

This paper proposes an improved three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to measure the environmental-economic efficiency (EEE) of air pollution control for 30 province-level areas of China during the period of 2012 to 2016. In this model, capital, labor, and total energy consumption are the three inputs, while gross domestic product (GDP) and waste gas emissions represent the desirable and undesirable outputs, respectively. This model allows the weights of economic growth and environmental protection to be adjusted as needed by policymakers; the model is adopted to evaluate the effects of government measures on environmental protection and economic growth. Ultimately, the effects from environmental factors and statistical noise are excluded from the EEEs of local governments and the managerial efficiencies are calculated. The results simultaneously reflect the local performance of air pollution control and economic development, which can be used to clarify the ranking of provinces nationwide.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110435
Author(s):  
Gang Peng ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Kai Shi

Air pollution has become an urgent issue affecting sustainable urban development. The Chinese government has implemented a series of air pollution control policies since 2012. Exploring the effectiveness of pollution control policies is important for future policy-making and improvements in air quality. Mean and variance tests were used for evaluation on the effectiveness of pollution control policies implemented in major cities and estimates of the heterogeneity among cities based on the distribution fitting and testing of daily PM2.5 data from January 2015 to January 2020. The nonparametric kernel density estimation adopted in this paper can effectively describe the data characteristics, and this is very important for air quality monitoring and control. Our findings demonstrate that air pollution prevention and control policies have significantly improved the levels and distribution of urban air quality in China.


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