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Review of Environmental Economics and Policy Advance Access originally published online on June 23, 2009
Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 2009 3(2):209-230; doi:10.1093/reep/rep009
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Environmental Pollution in China: Status and Trends

Haakon Vennemo*, Kristin Aunan{dagger}, Henrik Lindhjem§ and Hans Martin Seip{dagger}

* Econ Pöyry, Sensible Research, Oslo University College; e-mail: haakon.vennemo{at}poyry.com
{dagger} Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo—CICERO, Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo
§ Econ Pöyry and Department of Economics and Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences

The state of China's environment is receiving attention from all over the world. This article reviews the current status and trends of environmental pollution in China. We argue that China is able to contain, and to some extent improve, air and water quality for the urban population at the local level. The situation is uneven when it comes to problems at the regional level. On the one hand, surface water quality in the South is improving and particle emissions are stable. On the other hand, nitrogen oxide emissions are increasing rapidly and sulfur oxide emissions have been on the rise until very recently, despite intense official pressure to bring sulfur emissions down. China's CO2 emissions have grown rapidly in recent years, causing global concern. However, we argue that future growth in CO2 emissions is likely to be slower. Overall, China appears to be following a path similar to the one taken by more industrialized countries.

JEL Classification: Q51, Q53, Q58

Thanks to Hege Johansen, Yvonne Kuhn, and Yan Qin for excellent research assistance and to Dale Jorgenson, Robert Stavins, Suzy Leonard, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments.


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