Air Pollution Governance Research Articles

Study on Air Pollution and Control Investment from the Perspective of the Environmental Theory Model: A Case Study in China, 2005–2014

China has been suffering from serious air pollution for years due to rapid industrialization. However, the relationship between China’s air pollution and pollution control schemes remains understudied in the Chinese air pollution literature. Using the Environmental Theory Model, this paper studies the relationship between air pollution and control investment in China for the period 2005–2014 and applies the inverse distance weighted interpolation (IDW) and Pearson correlation methods. As a result, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions for the governance of air pollution in China. The results are as follows: (1) The Pearson correlation coefficient between China’s air pollution index (API) and control investment is 0.466 (p < 0.01). This shows that the phenomenon of ‘Treatment after Pollution’ still exists in China’s economy; (2) there is an inverted U-shaped relationship that is in accordance with the environmental Kuznets curve between China’s air pollution control investment and air pollution; (3) the high-effectiveness of governmental air pollution control is reflected in the 2013–2014 period, where the API of year 2014 decreased by 10.45 from 2013. This shows a one-year lag between exposure to air pollution and the start of control investment. Future research is warranted to concentrate on establishing a model of the relationship between air pollution and control investment or an air pollution risk assessment based on the proportional hazards model (COX) model.

The Global Commons through a Regional Lens: The Arctic Council on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

AbstractThe regulation of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) is widely seen as an important dimension of global atmospheric pollution control and climate change governance. SLCPs emitted outside the Arctic influence the Arctic atmosphere, Arctic communities, and the rate of ice melt. As an intergovernmental forum that brings together three of the world’s major petroleum producers (Russia, the United States, and Canada), the Arctic Council has a pivotal role in reducing the rate of Arctic warming through SLCP mitigation. This article explores the Arctic Council’s approach to SLCP mitigation. It begins by addressing the current status of black carbon and methane in international legal instruments, and goes on to explore the important regime linkages that are set in place through the Arctic Council’s Framework for Action on Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emission Reductions. The article suggests that the Arctic Council provides an experimental platform that may catalyze SLCP regulation not only in Arctic jurisdictions but also in Arctic Council observer states, such as China and India. The transnational and inclusive character of the Arctic Council’s constitutional framework and knowledge-generating mechanisms enables new pathways for global action on climate change and air pollution governance.

Characterization of haze episodes and factors contributing to their formation using a panel model

A haze episode is a complex pollution process with high levels of fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Understanding factors contributing to their formation is crucial to mitigate PM2.5 pollution, which varies substantially on the daily and city scales. In this study, we attempted to introduce the dynamic panel model that uses the group deviation method to generate unbiased estimates of contributions from different factors by eliminating time-invariant confounding variables. Taking 25 cities in the Yangtze Delta Region (YDR), China, as a case study and we analyzed how natural factors (e.g., wind) and anthropogenic emissions (e.g., sulfur dioxide (SO2)) together contribute to PM2.5 pollution. Results showed that there was significant lag effect on PM2.5 concentration, and approximately 45% of the PM2.5 remained from one day to the next. On the contrary, present day's emission had little effect on its PM2.5 concentration. It suggested that daily variation of PM2.5 concentration was largely affected by natural factors, while the long term PM2.5 pollution such as annual concentration was more determined by anthropogenic emissions. The unbiased estimates of this simple dynamic panel model could well predict the annual changes of PM2.5 concentration with an uncertainty of less than 2% on city scale. Reducing SO2 and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions could mitigate PM2.5 pollution to some extent in the YDR; however, to achieve the clean air standard, more pollutants such as ammonia should be added to the emission reduction list. The analyses provide an alternative method to easily quantify contributing factors and their variability to air pollution. It could be helpful to better understand the confounding factors on the assessment of air pollution governance despite the panel model still need to be improved on aspects such as long-range transportation.

Trouble in Smogville

By the mid-1950s the rapidly growing Toronto was arguably North America’s third-worst smog-stricken city. Its downtown waterfront area, referred to by the local media as “Smogville,” was home to a range of pollution sources, many of which were exempt from regulation by the city. At issue politically was whether the authority to regulate polluting sources would stay with Metropolitan Toronto or be handed to the Ontario government and whether the former would be able to regulate the exempt sources (in particular, trains, ships, and various types of manufacturers). By the end of the decade, Metropolitan Toronto still governed the pollution sources within its borders, but with substantially expanded authority to do so. This article provides an account of the politics of the city’s early attempt at air pollution governance, focusing on the role played by Toronto’s real estate interests in lobbying for air pollution relief.

The International Joint Commission's Role in the United States-Canada Transboundary Air Pollution Control Regime: A Century of Experience to Guide the Future

The International Joint Commission (IJC), a bilateral institution established to manage the shared water resources of the United States and Canada, is celebrating its centennial. Despite its original mandate, the IJC also earned a prominent role in the governance of transboundary air pollution between the two nations. This article reviews the evolution of that particular function, evaluating the IJC’s role in the international transboundary air pollution regime with an eye to the challenges apparent at the dawn of its second century. The birth of the IJC and its original mandate under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty are introduced first. Next, every reference made to the IJC directly confronting air pollution are presented and analyzed. A pattern of increasing responsibility is traced from Trail Smelter through the series of three Detroit-St. Clair River Region references, then beyond the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements to the 1991 U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement. After evaluating those experiences, four proposals are distilled which would help to restore the IJC to the forefront of the U.S.-Canada transboundary air pollution control regime. Namely, the "precautionary principle" of international environmental law should be directly applied when drafting future references for submission to the IJC; the evidentiary value of IJC reports should be recognized in domestic courts on both sides of the border (especially in the context of the transboundary litigation provisions recorded in section 115 of the U.S. Clean Air Act and section 21.1 of the Canadian Clean Air Act); the Boundary Waters Treaty should be revised to transform IJC arbitration into an attractive alternative to litigation; and the IJC should be granted all of its familiar roles vis-a-vis the upcoming transboundary air pollution cap and trade program.