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A scenario analysis for standard revisions suggests that the full implementation of more stringent air quality standards would better protect public health and generate significant health benefits and substantial economic benefits, she said. When assessing the mortality risks/deaths, it remains a challenge to apply the existing health benefit monetization methodologies developed for other countries to China, and requires the development of new specifications and key datasets, according to her. In the second part of the seminar, Professor Zhang Shiqiu from Peking University, project lead for the economics analysis of the national ambient air quality standards revision, said that health benefits can account for more than 90 percent of the total benefits of air standards implementation, and the health improvement comes mainly from lower long-term PM2.5 exposures, especially an decrease in premature deaths. He recommended to develop standards that are consistent with these goals and take into account China’s historical experience of air quality standards, the latest WHO guidelines, and the standards’ effects of cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Jiang Kejun, Researcher from the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that China has to go further in terms of air quality standards to achieve its environmental and carbon goals. Cai Wenjia, Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, suggested that the team led by Professor Zhu could categorize their findings into near-, medium-, and long-term research needs, and try to zoom in on air quality standards for different regions, provinces, or cities.
Li Tiantian, Researcher of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the next step could be analysis for an optimized air quality standard system, including indicators, limits, and their spatial and temporal scales, to strengthen protection for certain demographics, considering the heterogeneous health effects among different populations.
Pan Xiaochuan, Professor at Peking University, suggested that the conclusions could be summarized in a more intuitive and statistically significant manner. Experts at the meeting appreciated the timely identification of research needs and agreed that it can provide China-specific data and other scientific evidence that will facilitate the revision of the national ambient air quality standards.
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