Public Concern about Haze and Ozone in the Era of Their Coordinated Control in China

Yaling Lu, Yuan Wang, Yujie Liao, Jiantong Wang, Mei Shan () and Hongqiang Jiang ()
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Yaling Lu: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Yuan Wang: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Yujie Liao: Hebei Key Laboratory of Power Plant Flue Gas Multi-Pollutants Control, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China
Jiantong Wang: The Center of Enterprise Green Governance, Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China
Mei Shan: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Hongqiang Jiang: The Center of Enterprise Green Governance, Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: In China, due to the implementation of the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution (APPCAP), the concentrations of PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter) and severe haze in most cities have decreased significantly. However, at present, haze pollution in China has not been completely mitigated, and the problem of O 3 (ozone) has become prominent. Therefore, the prevention and control of haze and O 3 pollution have become important and noticeable issues in the field of atmospheric management. We used the Baidu search indices of “haze” and “ozone” to reflect public concerns about air quality and uncover different correlations between level of concern and level of pollution, and then we identified regions in China that require public attention. The results showed that (1) over the last decade, the search index of haze had a rapid trend of variation in line with changes in haze pollution, but that of O 3 had a relatively slowly increasing trend; (2) the lag days between the peaks of public concern and the peaks of air pollution became increasingly shorter according to daily data analysis; and (3) 96 polluted cities did not receive sufficient public attention. Although periods of heavily haze-polluted weather, which affects visibility, have generated much public concern, periods of slight pollution have not received enough public attention. Public health protection and environmental participation regarding these periods of slight pollution in China deserve appropriate levels of attention.

Keywords: public concern; haze; ozone; zoning; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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