Incorporating health co-benefits into regional carbon emission reduction policy making: A case study of China’s power sector

Abstract

How to maximize the synergies between CO2 and conventional air pollutants (CAP) emission reductions have been extensively discussed in previous studies. However, few studies have explored the essential policy concern, which is, how to maximize the social benefits including both carbon mitigation and human health co-benefits from the co-abated conventional air pollutants. Besides, for some sectors that have extensive inter-regional trade, using more low-carbon technologies to produce goods (and thus reducing its own CO2 emissions) in one region may influence the need of goods imported from another region and consequently the associated conventional air pollutants emissions. Therefore, the health co-benefits may also be transferred to the other regions. This transfer effect has seldom been quantified before. To bridge these research gaps, this paper took China’s power sector as an example and quantified the operating margin (OM) emission factors of SO2, NOX and PM2.5 in China’s six power grids. Then the co-abatement rates of these three pollutants when reducing each kiloton of CO2 in different grids were calculated. Finally, considering different grids’ meteorological conditions, population densities, baseline incidences, baseline death rates, and the inter-grid electricity trade, this paper computed and compared the values and regional distribution of health co-benefits per kiloton of CO2 reduced. It is found that grids with the highest co-abatement rates in conventional air pollutants do not necessarily bring maximum health co-benefits. Although the northeast grid could achieve the largest co-reduction in NOX and PM2.5, it is the south grid that has the largest health co-benefits. The differences in health co-benefits of the same amount of CO2 reduced among grids vary as much as fivefold. Besides, the share of trans-grid health co-benefits can be as high as 14.1% if CO2 reduction takes place in the east grid. Therefore, it is suggested that the health co-benefits of CO2 reduction and their trans-regional distribution should be taken seriously when making regional carbon emission reduction plans, in order to maximize the social benefits of CO2 reduction.