Integrating Local, Regional and Global Assessment in China's Air Pollution Control Policy

Abstract

This paper develops a consistent analytical framework to assess the environmental damage of air pollution in China. Spatial models are used to estimate the impact of air pollution on human health, ecosystems, and global climate change. While the health effect is largely borne by local residents, the environmental impact of China's air pollution goes beyond its borders. Sulfur emissions from the combustion of coal cause acid rain, which falls in neighboring countries and harms the ecosystems in the East Asian region. At the global level, emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels enhance the greenhouse effect and contribute to global warming. A combination of willingness to pay and marginal social cost approaches are used to evaluate these environmental damages. Alternative abatement scenarios are explored to identify optimal control strategies that are based on overall cost-benefit analysis of emission abatement at multiple levels. The results suggest that the largest source of damage by air pollution in China is human mortality and morbidity associated with ambient concentrations of fine particulates and sulfur dioxide. Improving urban air quality will deliver substantial benefits. There is also considerable synergy between local, regional and global abatement by adopting measures that target the sources of air pollutants.

Keywords: air pollution, human health, ecosystems, global climate change, China

JEL Classification: Q25, I18, P20