IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v11y2018i5p1299-d147971.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decomposing Air Pollutant Emissions in Asia: Determinants and Projections

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Rafaj

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Program, Schlossplatz 1, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria)

  • Markus Amann

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Program, Schlossplatz 1, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria)

Abstract

High levels of air pollution pose an urgent social and public health challenge in many Asian regions. This study evaluates the role of key factors that determined the changes in emission levels in China, India and Japan over the past 25 years. While emissions of air pollutants have been declining in Japan since the 1990s, China and India have experienced a rapid growth in pollution levels in recent years. Around 2005, control measures for sulfur emissions started to deliver expected reductions in China, followed by cuts in nitrogen oxides ten years later. Despite recent policy interventions, growing emission trends in India persist. A decomposition analysis of emission-driving factors indicates that emission levels would have been at least two-times higher without the improvements in energy intensity and efficiency, combined with end-of-pipe measures. Due to the continuous reliance on fossil fuels, the abatement effect of a cleaner fuel mix was in most cases significantly smaller than other factors. A reassessment of emission projections developed in the past suggests a decisive impact of energy and environmental policies. It is expected that targeted legislative instruments will play a dominant role in achieving future air-quality goals in Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Rafaj & Markus Amann, 2018. "Decomposing Air Pollutant Emissions in Asia: Determinants and Projections," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:5:p:1299-:d:147971
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/5/1299/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/5/1299/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Bruyn, S. M. & van den Bergh, J. C. J. M. & Opschoor, J. B., 1998. "Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 161-175, May.
    2. Fujii, Hidemichi & Managi, Shunsuke & Kaneko, Shinji, 2019. "Decomposition analysis of air pollution abatement in China: Empirical study for ten industrial sectors from 1998 to 2009," MPRA Paper 92234, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Åström, Stefan & Yaramenka, Katarina & Mawdsley, Ingrid & Danielsson, Helena & Grennfelt, Peringe & Gerner, Annika & Ekvall, Tomas & Ahlgren, Erik O., 2017. "The impact of Swedish SO2 policy instruments on SO2 emissions 1990–2012," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 32-39.
    4. Tong, Zheming & Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard B., 2016. "Energy saving potential of natural ventilation in China: The impact of ambient air pollution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 660-668.
    5. Shichun Xu & Wenwen Zhang & Qinbin Li & Bin Zhao & Shuxiao Wang & Ruyin Long, 2017. "Decomposition Analysis of the Factors that Influence Energy Related Air Pollutant Emission Changes in China Using the SDA Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Vrontisi, Zoi & Abrell, Jan & Neuwahl, Frederik & Saveyn, Bert & Wagner, Fabian, 2016. "Economic impacts of EU clean air policies assessed in a CGE framework," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(P1), pages 54-64.
    7. Hoekstra, Rutger & van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M., 2003. "Comparing structural decomposition analysis and index," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 39-64, January.
    8. Lipscy, Phillip Y. & Schipper, Lee, 2013. "Energy efficiency in the Japanese transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 248-258.
    9. David I. Stern, 2017. "The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 7-28, April.
    10. Chen, Yujiao & Malkawi, Ali & Liu, Zhu & Freeman, Richard Barry & Tong, Zheming, 2016. "Energy Saving Potential of Natural Ventilation in China: The Impact of Ambient Air Pollution," Scholarly Articles 27733689, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    11. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Stern, David I., 2015. "Global energy use: Decoupling or convergence?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 633-641.
    12. Peter Rafaj & Markus Amann & José Siri & Henning Wuester, 2014. "Changes in European greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions 1960–2010: decomposition of determining factors," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 477-504, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alicja Kolasa-Więcek & Dariusz Suszanowicz & Agnieszka A. Pilarska & Krzysztof Pilarski, 2021. "Modelling the Interaction between Air Pollutant Emissions and Their Key Sources in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Shichun Xu & Yongmei Miao & Yiwen Li & Yifeng Zhou & Xiaoxue Ma & Zhengxia He & Bin Zhao & Shuxiao Wang, 2019. "What Factors Drive Air Pollutants in China? An Analysis from the Perspective of Regional Difference Using a Combined Method of Production Decomposition Analysis and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Jun Yang & Yongmei Miao & Yunfan Li & Yiwen Li & Xiaoxue Ma & Shichun Xu & Shuxiao Wang, 2019. "Decomposition Analysis of Factors that Drive the Changes of Major Air Pollutant Emissions in China at a Multi-Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Zhang Yu & Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Hafiz Muhammad Zia-ul-haq & Muhammad Tanveer & Muhammad Jawad Sajid & Shehzad Ahmed, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of End-of-Life Vehicles Related Research: Exploring a Path to Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Vuk Petronijević & Aleksandar Đorđević & Miladin Stefanović & Slavko Arsovski & Zdravko Krivokapić & Milan Mišić, 2020. "Energy Recovery through End-of-Life Vehicles Recycling in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-26, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Torres-Brito, David Israel & Cruz-Aké, Salvador & Venegas-Martínez, Francisco, 2023. "Impacto de los contaminantes por gases de efecto invernadero en el crecimiento económico en 86 países (1990-2019): Sobre la curva inversa de Kuznets [Impact of the Effect of Greenhouse Gas Pollutan," MPRA Paper 119031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Ščasný, M. & Ang, B.W. & Rečka, L., 2021. "Decomposition analysis of air pollutants during the transition and post-transition periods in the Czech Republic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    3. Zhang, Shaohui & Guo, Qinxin & Smyth, Russell & Yao, Yao, 2022. "Extreme temperatures and residential electricity consumption: Evidence from Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Costanzo, Vincenzo & Yao, Runming & Xu, Tiantian & Xiong, Jie & Zhang, Qiulei & Li, Baizhan, 2019. "Natural ventilation potential for residential buildings in a densely built-up and highly polluted environment. A case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 340-353.
    5. Boya Zhou & Shaojun Zhang & Ye Wu & Wenwei Ke & Xiaoyi He & Jiming Hao, 2018. "Energy-saving benefits from plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: perspectives based on real-world measurements," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 735-756, June.
    6. Llorca, Manuel & Rodriguez-Alvarez, Ana, 2024. "Economic, environmental, and energy equity convergence: Evidence of a multi-speed Europe?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    7. Liwei Wen & Kyosuke Hiyama, 2018. "Target Air Change Rate and Natural Ventilation Potential Maps for Assisting with Natural Ventilation Design During Early Design Stage in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Polina Ustyuzhanina, 2022. "Decomposition of air pollution emissions from Swedish manufacturing," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 24(2), pages 195-223, April.
    9. Wei Xue & Qingming Zhan & Qi Zhang & Zhonghua Wu, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Variations of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants and Their Relations to Meteorological Parameters: The Case of Xiangyang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Tol, Richard S.J. & Pacala, Stephen W. & Socolow, Robert H., 2009. "Understanding Long-Term Energy Use and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the USA," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 425-445, May.
    11. Martins, Nuno R. & Carrilho da Graça, Guilherme, 2017. "Impact of outdoor PM2.5 on natural ventilation usability in California’s nondomestic buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 711-724.
    12. He, Yueer & Liu, Meng & Kvan, Thomas & Peng, Shini, 2017. "An enthalpy-based energy savings estimation method targeting thermal comfort level in naturally ventilated buildings in hot-humid summer zones," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 717-731.
    13. Bennedsen, Mikkel & Hillebrand, Eric & Jensen, Sebastian, 2023. "A neural network approach to the environmental Kuznets curve," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    14. Payam Nejat & Fatemeh Jomehzadeh & Hasanen Mohammed Hussen & John Kaiser Calautit & Muhd Zaimi Abd Majid, 2018. "Application of Wind as a Renewable Energy Source for Passive Cooling through Windcatchers Integrated with Wing Walls," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Qing He & Haiyang Zhao & Lin Shen & Liuqun Dong & Ye Cheng & Ke Xu, 2019. "Factors Influencing Residents’ Intention toward Green Retrofitting of Existing Residential Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, August.
    16. Ádám László Katona & Huang Xuan & Sara Elhadad & István Kistelegdi & István Háber, 2020. "High-Resolution CFD and In-Situ Monitoring Based Validation of an Industrial Passive Air Conduction System (PACS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, June.
    17. Xue-Ting Jiang & Min Su & Rongrong Li, 2018. "Decomposition Analysis in Electricity Sector Output from Carbon Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    18. Bo Hong & Hongqiao Qin & Runsheng Jiang & Min Xu & Jiaqi Niu, 2018. "How Outdoor Trees Affect Indoor Particulate Matter Dispersion: CFD Simulations in a Naturally Ventilated Auditorium," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-21, December.
    19. Ahmed, Tariq & Kumar, Prashant & Mottet, Laetitia, 2021. "Natural ventilation in warm climates: The challenges of thermal comfort, heatwave resilience and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    20. Wang, C. & Zhu, Y. & Qu, J. & Hu, H.D., 2018. "Automatic air temperature control in a container with an optic-variable wall," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 671-681.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:5:p:1299-:d:147971. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.