TY - JOUR
T1 - Country-scale trends in air pollution and fossil fuel CO2emissions during 2001-2018
T2 - Confronting the roles of national policies and economic growth
AU - Lei, Ruixue
AU - Feng, Sha
AU - Lauvaux, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Fossil fuel (FF) burning, the main energy source of the modern world's economy, remains the major source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollutants in the atmosphere. Based on 18 years (2001-2018) of aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite, FFCO2 emissions from the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide, and gross domestic product (GDP) data from the World Bank, we found that air quality, FF consumption, and economy are strongly bonded at the continental scale but decoupled at the national level under favorable policies. The comparison of AOD vs PM2.5 and NO2 over urbanized areas shows that the pollutants leading to the AOD load can vary significantly by country. A strong connection between GDP and FFCO2 emissions indicates that economic growth deeply replies on FF consumption in most countries. Meanwhile, air pollution is more associated with the growing trend than the level of development of a country. With more mature technologies and renewable energy, economies can keep growing without compromising their environment and population health.
AB - Fossil fuel (FF) burning, the main energy source of the modern world's economy, remains the major source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollutants in the atmosphere. Based on 18 years (2001-2018) of aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite, FFCO2 emissions from the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide, and gross domestic product (GDP) data from the World Bank, we found that air quality, FF consumption, and economy are strongly bonded at the continental scale but decoupled at the national level under favorable policies. The comparison of AOD vs PM2.5 and NO2 over urbanized areas shows that the pollutants leading to the AOD load can vary significantly by country. A strong connection between GDP and FFCO2 emissions indicates that economic growth deeply replies on FF consumption in most countries. Meanwhile, air pollution is more associated with the growing trend than the level of development of a country. With more mature technologies and renewable energy, economies can keep growing without compromising their environment and population health.
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U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/abc9e1
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/abc9e1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85098547791
SN - 1748-9318
VL - 16
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
IS - 1
M1 - 014006
ER -