Household consumption in China is associated with substantial PM_(2.5)pollution,through activities directly(i.e.,fuel use)and/or indirectly(i.e.,consumption of goods and services)causing pollutant emissions.Urban and rural households exhibit different consumption preferences and living areas,thus their contributions to and suffering from air pollution could differ.Assessing this contrast is crucial for comprehending the environmental impacts of the nation’s ongoing urbanization process.Here we quantify Chinese urban and rural households’contributions to ambient PM_(2.5)pollution and the health risks they suffer from,by integrating economic,atmospheric,and health models and/or datasets.The national premature deaths related to long-term exposure to PM_(2.5)pollution contributed by total household consumption are estimated to be 1.1 million cases in 2015,among which 56%are urban households and 44%are rural households.For pollution contributed indirectly,urban households,especially in developed provinces,tend to bear lower mortality risks compared with the portions of deaths or pollution they contribute.The opposite results are true for direct pollution.With China’s rapid urbanization process,without adequate reduction in emission intensity,the increased indirect pollution-associated premature deaths could largely offset that avoided by reduced direct pollution,and the indirect pollution-associated urban–rural inequalities might become severer.Developing pollution mitigation strategies from both production and consumption sides could help with reducing pollution-related mortality and associated urban-rural inequality.
Atmospheric transport of fine particulate matter(PM_(2.5)),the leading environmental risk factor for public health,is estimated to exert substantial transboundary effects at present.During the past several decades,human-produced pollutant emissions have undergone drastic and regionally distinctive changes,yet it remains unclear about the resulting global transboundary health impacts.Here we show that between 1950 and 2014,global anthropogenic PM_(2.5)has led to 185.7 million premature deaths cumulatively,including about 14%from transboundary pollution.Among four country groups at different affluence levels,on a basis of per capita contribution to transboundary mortality,a richer region tends to exert severer cumulative health externality,with the poorest bearing the worst net externality after contrasting import and export of pollution mortality.The temporal changes in transboundary mortality and cross-regional inequality are substantial.Effort to reduce PM_(2.5)-related transboundary mortality should seek international collaborative strategies that account for historical responsibility and inequality.
