Achieving Synergies between Carbon Reduction Goals and Air Quality Improvements in California and China

June 29, 2021

Californian and Chinese urban areas have long faced significant local air pollution issues, posing challenges to public health. Large cities in both regions face local air quality concerns and thermal inversions which further compound the problem (for example, in Los Angeles and  Beijing). 

Meanwhile, within the last year, California and China have each adopted mid-century carbon neutrality goals, with California aiming for net-zero emissions by 2045, and China by 2060. Still, both have significant work to do in charting the concrete interim pathways needed to reach these long-term climate goals. Fortunately, each has adopted some form of multi-year policy planning mechanism: California with its Scoping Plan, and China with its Five-Year Plans. 

New research out from the University of California’s California-China Climate Institute highlights important opportunities for exchanging lessons-learned in combating both local air pollution and climate threats together across these two regions. The new report, “Energy Efficiency and Air Quality Strategies in the U.S. and China: A review of best-practices for buildings, transport, and industry,” highlights co-benefits that can be achieved when pursuing air quality, efficiency, and climate goals in tandem. The approach provides added focus on other pollutants in addition to carbon dioxide, including those most responsible for local air pollution, such as fine particulate matter, black carbon, and other short-lived climate pollutants. The report details analyses that show the substantial air quality co-benefits that can be gained through efficiency measures, including significant reductions in primary air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter. Tackling different  types of emissions jointly can yield significant synergies, for example, cost-savings or improved efficacy of approach. Even so, the authors stress that no strategy is “one-size-fits all,” and approaches must be tailored to the local geography and atmospheric conditions, emissions sources, and other local factors. 

The paper identifies several focal areas where there may be significant opportunities for coordination gains between California and China, including:

  • Battery electric storage systems to combat intermittency of renewables on the grid;
  • Dispersed energy storage options;
  • Improved cost efficiencies and performance of heat pumps with alternative refrigerants;
  • Advanced technologies such as green hydrogen, advanced pumped storage, alternative battery technologies, and battery end-of-life recycling;
  • Flexible demand programs;
  • Programs for retrofitting buildings for efficiency improvements;
  • Zero-emissions vehicles technologies and programs, including for heavy-duty trucks; and
  • Electrification of goods movement and reducing carbon emissions from shipping.

The report provides valuable evidence that transferable knowledge may emerge through enhanced dialogue, technical exchanges, and information-sharing between relevant agencies in China and California’s Air Resources Board and local air quality management districts. Further, it highlights several examples of international best-practices for achieving enhanced air quality and climate co-benefits, for example, ultra-low emissions zones for heavy-duty trucks in cities, energy budgets for buildings, and enhanced inter-agency coordination in difficult-to-abate sectors such as cement. 

To learn more, read the full report here.