Co-benefits of CO2 emission reduction from China’s clean air actions between 2013-2020

Qinren Shi, Bo Zheng, Yixuan Zheng, Dan Tong, Yang Liu, Hanchen Ma, Chaopeng Hong, Guannan Geng, Dabo Guan, Kebin He and Qiang Zhang ()
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Qinren Shi: Tsinghua University
Bo Zheng: Tsinghua University
Yixuan Zheng: Tsinghua University
Dan Tong: Tsinghua University
Yang Liu: Tsinghua University
Hanchen Ma: Tsinghua University
Chaopeng Hong: Tsinghua University
Guannan Geng: Tsinghua University
Dabo Guan: Tsinghua University
Kebin He: Tsinghua University
Qiang Zhang: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Climate change mitigation measures can yield substantial air quality improvements while emerging clean air measures in developing countries can also lead to CO2 emission mitigation co-benefits by affecting the local energy system. Here, we evaluate the effect of China’s stringent clean air actions on its energy use and CO2 emissions from 2013-2020. We find that widespread phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities during clean air actions have promoted the transformation of the country’s energy system. The co-benefits of China’s clean air measures far outweigh the additional CO2 emissions of end-of-pipe devices, realizing a net accumulative reduction of 2.43 Gt CO2 from 2013-2020, exceeding the accumulated CO2 emission increase in China (2.03 Gt CO2) during the same period. Our study indicates that China’s efforts to tackle air pollution induce considerable climate benefit, and measures with remarkable CO2 reduction co-benefits deserve further attention in future policy design.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32656-8

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