Abstract
Air pollution has become an increasingly serious environmental problem in China. Especially in winter, the air pollution in northern China becomes even worse due to winter heating. The “coal to gas” policy, which uses natural gas to replace coal in the heating system in winter, was implemented in Beijing in the year 2013. However, the effects of this policy reform have not been examined. Using a panel dataset of 16 districts in Beijing, this paper employs a first difference model to examine the impact of the “coal to gas” policy on air quality. Strong evidence shows that the “coal to gas” policy has significantly improved the air quality in Beijing. On average, the “coal to gas” policy reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10), particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) by 12.08%, 4.89%, 13.07%, 11.94% and 11.10% per year, respectively. We find that the “coal to gas” policy is more effective in areas with less energy use efficiency. The finding of this paper suggests that the government should continue to implement the “coal to gas” policy, so as to alleviate the air pollution in Beijing, China.
Highlights
Air pollution has become a severe global environmental problem [1,2,3]
In order to answer the above questions, we use a panel dataset of 16 districts in Beijing from 2014 to 2018, and employed the first difference model to determine the effects of the “coal to gas” policy on air quality index (AQI), sulfur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10), PM2.5 and carbon monoxide (CO)
4.273 million square meters were transformed from coal to gas power in the winter heating period of each district in Beijing each year (Table 2)
Summary
Air pollution has become a severe global environmental problem [1,2,3]. According to the World. From 1960 to 1979, the number of fog and haze days during winter in China showed a gradual upward trend. Policies were issued to address the air pollution problem in China, especially in the northern region during winter. In September 2013, the Beijing Clean Air Action Plan was officially released, focusing on emission reduction through energy structure adjustment in the following five years. In order to answer the above questions, we use a panel dataset of 16 districts in Beijing from 2014 to 2018, and employed the first difference model to determine the effects of the “coal to gas” policy on air quality index (AQI), sulfur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), PM10, PM2.5 and carbon monoxide (CO).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
