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 China has vowed to determine the precise impact of air and water
pollution on health as part of its efforts to raise average life
expectancy to 79 years by 2030 from 76.3 years in 2015.
According to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of
Chicago (EPIC), big air quality improvements made in the last five
years have already been enough to push up average lifespans.
"China is winning its war against pollution ... (The country) is due
to see dramatic improvements in the overall health of its people,
including longer lifespans, if these improvements are sustained,"
EPIC director Michael Greenstone said at an event in Beijing on
Thursday.
According to the EPIC's findings, air quality improvements made in
the smog-prone northern city of Tianjin over the last five years are
already expected to have raised the average lifespan of its 13
million residents by 1.2 years.
China cut average concentrations of hazardous particles known as
PM2.5 to an average of 39 micrograms per cubic meter last year, down
9.3 percent from 2017 after a campaign to curb coal use and improve
industry and vehicle standards.
However, average emission levels remain significantly higher than
China's own 35-microgram standard, as well as the 10-microgram limit
recommended by the WHO. In northern industrial regions, average
concentrations are much higher.
In a study cited by state-owned news agency Xinhua on Friday, a
group of top Chinese health experts identified air and water
pollution as one of the major health risks in China for the next 20
years, alongside obesity, depression and Alzheimer's disease.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang declared "war" on pollution in 2014 amid
fears that the damage done to the country's environment as a result
of more than 30 years of untrammelled economic growth would lead to
social unrest.
However, with much of the low-hanging fruit already taken and the
economy facing a slowdown, China has admitted that the campaign is
under pressure.
"It would be very difficult for China to meet the WHO standards even
with strong efforts to reduce industrial emissions and fossil fuel
consumption," Jiang Kejun, research professor at the Energy Research
Institute, a government think tank, told Reuters on the sidelines of
the Thursday event.
"Emissions from non-industrial sectors, agriculture for instance,
also play a big part in air pollution and are hard to put under
control," he said.
(This version of the story corrects the acronym for the Energy
Policy Institute at the University of Chicago to EPIC, not EPI, in
paragraphs 3, 4 and 5)
(Reporting by Muyu Xu and David Stanway; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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