In the News
March 12, 2018
As China marks its four-year anniversary of declaring “war against pollution,” a new analysis using data from more than 200 government monitors throughout the country finds air pollution has decreased across the board in China’s most populated areas. Cities on average have cut concentrations of fine particulates (PM2.5)—widely considered the deadliest form of air pollution—by 32 percent in just four years.
“The data is in—China is winning its war against pollution,” says Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), who conducted the analysis. “By winning this war, China is due to see dramatic improvements in the overall health of its people, including longer lifespans, if these improvements are sustained.”