With China's significant role on pollution emissions and related health damage, deep and up-to-date understanding of China's air pollution policies is of worldwide relevance. Based on scientific evidence for the evolution of air pollution and the institutional background of environmental governance in China, we examine the development of air pollution control policies from the 1980s and onwards. We show that: (1) The early policies, until 2005, were ineffective at reducing emissions; (2) During 2006-2012, new instruments which interact with political incentives were introduced in the 11th Five-Year Plan, and the national goal of reducing total sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions by 10% was achieved. However, regional compound air pollution problems dominated by fine particulate matter (PM) and ground level ozone (O₃) emerged and worsened; (3) After the winter-long PM episode in eastern China in 2013, air pollution control policies have been experiencing significant changes on multiple fronts. In this work we analyze the different policy changes, the drivers of changes and key factors influencing the effectiveness of policies in these three stages. Lessons derived from the policy evolution have implications for future studies, as well as further reforming the management scheme towards air quality and health risk oriented directions.

我国正处在环境质量逐步改善的重要窗口和机遇期,坚持绿色发展为生态环境质量改善提供重要支撑。为克服我国的绿色发展之路上面临的诸多问题和障碍,提升环境治理能力,必须坚持源头控制、全过程管理、制定实施低成本的污染控制战略、完善环境经济政策、构建政府—企业—公众联合制衡关系等相关制度和政策变革,通过环境保护制度建设,推动绿色发展。

PM_(2.5)引致的雾霾现象,不仅昭示中国严峻的大气污染形势及健康风险,同时,也带来能见度下降等问题。能见度降低不仅直接影响交通等社会经济活动的正常进行,同时也对民众的生活质量产生影响。在人们对环境质量和生活品质的认识、理解和诉求不断提升的背景下,良好的大气能见度成为具有稀缺性同时也与民众生活质量密切相关的公共环境资源。对大气能见度进行环境经济价值评估是环境经济学研究的前沿领域。文章对国际上大气能见度价值评估的研究和实践进展进行了梳理和评述,重点对内涵资产价值评估法、条件价值评估法、联合分析法和选择实验法等方法在能见度价值评估中的进展进行了总结和比较,并对中国开展大气能见度价值评估提出研究展望。

中国的空气污染与以煤为主的能源结构关系密切.燃煤电厂是中国煤炭消费量最大且大气污染物排放量最大的部门,因此,也必然成为污染物排放控制的主要对象.针对最近公布的电厂超低排放政策,本文采用成本有效性评估方法对燃煤电厂污染物减排进行了分析,研究结果表明:全面进行超低排放改造以实现污染物减排的成本高昂,其中,燃煤电厂超低排放改造的脱硫、脱硝、除尘的单位减排成本分别为:4.46万元/t,2.35万元/t,0.43万元/t.现有燃煤电厂实施超低排放的行业成本较高;鉴于其他燃煤部门技术水平相对落后、排放标准宽松,现阶段是否首先针对燃煤电厂全面实施超低排放改造需要更为全面的环境经济评估.基于本文的分析,以度电成本为衡量指标将会误导超低排放改造的减排路径选择.研究结论表明:燃煤电厂行业最低成本超低排放改造,应从规模较小、煤质水平较差的机组开始.