Progression of an emission inventory of China integrating CO2 with air pollutants: A chance to learn the influence of development on emissions

Abstract

An emission inventory, involving both air pollutants (APs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs), is needed so that the questions of air pollution and climate change can be co-addressed, coordinated, and collaborated upon. In this study, an emission inventory, including both APs and CO2 (representing GHGs), was developed for China 2019 using two special measures. First, the framework of air pollution source classification was used for the integrative inventory and then the CO2 emissions for each sector/subsector/source in the GHG inventory were precisely arranged into the framework of APs by every possible means such as drawing on the constraints from the International Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), which enabled the sharing of common or intrinsically connected activity data for both APs and CO2. Second, an attempt was made to deduce the activity data of various industrial processes through proper interpretation of the information carried in Pollutant Permits. The calculated emissions of APs and CO2 were found to be comparable to the results of other studies. Additionally, the average per capita CO2 and pollution equivalents (PEs) were 10.29 ± 6.75 tons and 11.72 ± 7.35 tons, respectively, over the provincial regions with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) lower than ￥70000 (about $10000). Whereas the average per capita CO2 and PEs dropped to 6.10 ± 1.83 tons and 6.70 ± 2.09 tons, respectively, over the provincial regions with per capita GDP higher than ￥70000. This somewhat supports the philosophy of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) regarding the close connection between emission and development. Moreover, the two emission intensities (for APs and CO2) were found to vary synchronously among the provinces, reflecting the inter-linked fates of the two emissions under the control measures oriented toward either APs or GHGs.