Spatial mismatch between pollutant emission and environmental quality in China d A case study of NOx

Özet

Although pollutant emission is the main cause of environmental quality deterioration, regional environmentalquality may not be consistent with pollutant emission volume. To investigate the relationshipbetween environmental quality and pollutant emission in Chinese provinces, a spatial mismatch indexmodel and a barycenter model were established. NOx emissions and NO2 concentrations for the period2006e2012 were used to verify the models. Results showed that regional differences in emission intensitywere found; total NOx emissions for the nine highest-emission provinces accounted for 61.7% ofthe national total. Spatial distributions of NO2 pollution remained stable. Areas below Grade II of theNational Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB 3095-2012) were mainly in the eastern coastal region, especiallythe Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area. Spatial mismatches couldbe found between NOx emission and NO2 concentration, with the spatial mismatch index ranging 29.6e32.7, while barycenter distance for these two variables ranged 45.4e138.5 km. Spatial mismatchesbetween NOx emission and NO2 concentration have decreased gradually over time. Our findings enhanceunderstanding of the link between environmental quality and pollutant emission and should be takeninto account when establishing regional environmental goals.