Trans-boundary Air Quality and Health Impacts of Emissions in Various Regions in China

Abstract:

In last few decades, China has gone through a rapid development, resulting in urbanization and industrialization. However, the abundant economic achievements were gained at the cost of a sharp deterioration of air quality. Previous research has reported the adverse health outcome from outdoor air pollution in China. Nevertheless, the trans-boundary air quality and health impacts due to emissions in various regions in China have yet fully understood.

Our study aims to comprehensively apportion the attribution of emissions in seven regions in China, which are defined based on their geographical locations, to air pollutions, as well as the resultant health impacts in their local areas and other regions, provinces, and cities in China. A regional air quality model is applied to simulate the physical and chemical processes of various pollutants in the atmosphere. The resultant health outcome, such as premature death, is estimated by using the concentration-response functions reported in the literature.

We anticipate that our results would serve as a critical reference for research community and policy makers to mitigate the air quality and health impacts of emissions in China.