Air Quality, Health, and Equity Benefits of Carbon Neutrality and Clean Air Pathways in China.

In the pursuit of carbon neutrality, China's 2060 targets have been largely anchored in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with less emphasis on the consequential benefits for air quality and public health. This study pivots to this critical nexus, exploring how China's carbon neutrality aligns with the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines (WHO AQG) regarding fine particulate matter (PM) exposure. Coupling a technology-rich integrated assessment model, an emission-concentration response surface model, and exposure and health assessment, we find that decarbonization reduces sulfur dioxide (SO), nitrogen oxides (NO), and PM emissions by more than 90%; reduces nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) by more than 50%; and simultaneously reduces the disparities across regions.

Evaluating long-term emission impacts of large-scale electric vehicle deployment in the US using a human-Earth systems model.

While large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) globally would reduce carbon dioxide (CO) and traditional air pollutant emissions from the transportation sector, emissions from the electric sector, refineries, and potentially other sources would change in response. Here, a multi-sector human-Earth systems model is used to evaluate the net long-term emission implications of large-scale EV adoption in the US over widely differing pathways of the evolution of the electric sector. Our results indicate that high EV adoption would decrease net CO emissions through 2050, even for a scenario where all electric sector capacity additions through 2050 are fossil fuel technologies.