A team of experts from the UK and China analysed emissions from coal, oil, natural gas and biomass power plants, with a focus on coal-fired power plants as the major contributors to ambient air pollution.
The study, published today in Nature Energy, analysed data from 2014, when China introduced the ambitious Ultra-Low Emissions (ULE) Standards Policy for renovating coal-fired power stations to limit air pollutant emissions, to 2017.
The team found that between 2014 and 2017, China’s annual power plant emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter dropped by 65%, 60% and 72% each year respectively from 2.21, 3.11 and 0.52 million tonnes in 2014 to 0.77, 1.26 and 0.14 million tonnes in 2017, under the ULE standards policy.
Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2019/oct/china-track-meet-its-ultra-low-emissions-goals-2020
Polluting emissions from Chinese thermal power plants declined significantly between 2014 and 2017, according to research involving UCL.
China is on track to meet its ultra-low emissions goals for 2020
