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Key Messages A reason COVID-19 has had such far-reaching impacts is it stems from multiple interconnected risks. The difficulties that policymakers face in managing related risks not only deepen vulnerabilities to COVID-19 but other planetary crises. Explicitly recognizing and acting to achieve the co-benefits of integrated air pollution, climate change, and health policies in the wake of COVID-19 can help policymakers address an air pollution-climate-health crisis. This brief outlines how the 'Triple R framework’—Response, Recovery and Redesign—can help align different government agency and other stakeholder interests behind the kind of integrated clean air, climate, and health policies that can deliver co-benefits. The framework calls for bringing together 1) immediate responses; 2) broader recovery policies backed by stimulus funding, and 3) forward-looking redesigns of infrastructures and institutions. Regional and international organizations could help policymakers achieve co-benefits by demonstrating the application of the 'Triple R framework in diverse contexts.

In recent years, the Chinese government has successfully implemented a range of energy savings and emission reduction policies, including structural adjustments, technological updating, and managerial improvements. Among the areas targeted in these policies, the one with the greatest potential to deliver co-benefits is solar energy. Fortunately, China has begun to realize this potential over the last decade. In 2019, for example, China’s installed solar power capacity reached 204.68 GW or over 8000 times the capacity a decade ago. Meanwhile, solar power generation reached 223.8 TW, representing a nearly 1500-fold increase over the same figure 10 years prior (China Electric Power Yearbook n.d.; China Electricity Council 2018, 2019a, b; NEA 2016).

China’s foreign trade has increased rapidly and made extraordinary achievements, thus becoming one of the three major engines that drive the country’s economy. Since the kickoff of the reform and opening up, particularly since China’s accession to WTO in 2001, the country’s foreign trade has been increasing by 20–30 % annually, the rapidest growth in the world. In 2006, China’s total import and export of merchandise amounted to US$ 1.77 trillion, up 24.5 % over 2005, and the trade surplus reached US$ 150 billion. According to WTO, China’s total foreign trade was expected to exceed that of Germany by the end of 2007. Consequently, China would become the world’s third largest economy after the U.S. and EU. Currently, China’s trade surplus exceeds US$ 200 billion every year. Its foreign exchange reserve is now up to US$ 1.3 trillion, which represents the world’s largest stockpile of foreign exchanges. In addition, foreign direct investment in China has increased at a pace, which exceeded US$ 50 billion in 2003 and reached US$ 61.3 billion in 2006, making China the world’s largest foreign investment destination.

From the perspective of life cycle assessment (LCA), the development, construction, and operation of all kinds of new energy power generation technologies release greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This sparks concerns about the low-carbon nature of the new energy power generation technologies. Based on national and international literature review, this paper estimates and compares the GHG emission factors of traditional thermal power generation and new energy power generation technologies in China with the LCA approach. The GHG mitigation potential of new energy power generation technologies as substitution for traditional thermal power generation in China was evaluated, according to the objectives of new energy power generation of the national development planning. The results show that the GHG emission factors of new energy power generation are much lower than that of traditional thermal power generation even with LCA accounting, and the GHG mitigation potential of new energy substitution is huge. Citation Liu, S.-Q., X.-Q. Mao, Y.-B. Gao, et al., 2012: Life cycle assessment, estimation and comparison of greenhouse gas mitigation potential of new energy power generation in China. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 3(3), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2012.00147.

Ecosystem health has been a focal point and research frontier of applied ecology in recent years, increasingly used in urban ecological studies. To quantify the effect of ecological improvement from eco-planning, an ecosystem health assessment method is used in eco-planning evaluation and decision support in the urban eco-planning research of Guangzhou City of China. Based on features of an urban ecosystem, five factors such as vigor, organizational structure, resilience, ability to maintain ecosystem service, and influence on people’s health were selected to develop the assessment indicator system. Then, to evaluate the validity of planning measures, a cost-effect analysis of the different scenarios on eco-planning was made, taking investment of the planned projects as the cost and ecosystem health state after implementing the scenarios as the effect. To establish priority of all the proposed planning schemes or countermeasures, variation of the ecosystem health state was evaluated when the investment of eco-environmental construction projects changes by ±10%, ±20% and ±50%, respectively. Thus, the order of importance of eco-environment construction projects to the urban ecosystem health state can be worked out, providing a reference for prioritizing the implementation of such urban eco-environmental projects. The study proved the trial value of an ecosystem health evaluation method in urban eco-planning research.

The transportation sector in China has joined the power generation and the steel and iron industries as a major CO2emission contributor. To determine which policy instrument(s) would be effective in reducing CO2emissions, various policy instruments which have been or are likely to be implemented in the near future in China are examined and compared in this study. These instruments include carbon tax, energy tax, fuel tax, clean energy vehicle subsidy, and a reduction on ticket prices. The CIMS model system is employed as the simulation vehicle to predict the emission dynamics of CO2and local air pollutants under business-as-usual and policy scenarios for the transportation sector of China from 2008 to 2050. The 2020 CO2 reduction target is also set according to the national carbon intensity reduction pledge of China. The policy instruments proposed in this research study can all help mitigate the CO2emission intensity of the Chinese transportation industry to different extents and bring about the co- benefits of local air pollutant reduction. Among these policy instruments,energy and fuel taxes, with the tax rates set, are the two most promising instruments for CO2emission intensity reduction to reach the 2020 carbon intensity reduction targets while subsidies are the least promising options. CO2tax could be an effective policy tool, but with the low tax rate considered in China, there is no way that the transportation sector would significantly contribute to achieving a desirable carbon intensity reduction. The CIMS model is applied to simulate and determine how CO2, energy, and fuel taxation can stimulate technology competition and substitution in the transportation sector of China and to ascertain how these taxes will influence energy consumption and pollutant emissions reduction.

China is currently facing a major air pollution challenge and must make significant reductions in its emissions of conventional air pollutants (AP) and greenhouse gases (GHGs). This is especially the case for the iron and steel sector, which is one of country's biggest polluters. To help find the best way to address this problem, this study has looked at policies that will help reduce both GHGs and APs at the same time - so called, co-control policies. The study finds that a carbon tax regime can reduce both carbon and local pollutants from the iron and steel sector (and so deliver maximum benefits). However, it finds that Command and Control and End of Pipe policies produce conflicting effects in the reduction of local pollutants and CO2. It recommends that a high-rate carbon tax should be brought in. This should be done within the framework of environmental tax reform and alongside other policy measures to reduce any negative impacts the move might have on businesses and society.

China is one of the world's leading users of coal and is therefore faced with serious coal-smoke pollution in urban areas. But pressure is mounting for a solution and this can only intensify following Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic games. To find just such a solution, this study has investigated the potential for natural gas as a cleaner fuel for China's cities. The study shows that natural gas has clear environmental and economic benefits over coal. The study found that the high cost of substituting natural gas for coal was the main factor hindering the adoption of the cleaner fuel. To overcome this hurdle, the researchers recommend a number of policy recommendations that would reduce the cost of natural gas and accelerate its take-up as fuel of choice.

As a result of its rapid economic development and large volume of coal burning, China is faced with serious coal-smoke pollution in urban areas. In large cities such as Beijing and Chongqing, people are clearly suffering the adverse health effects of coal-smoke pollution, with PM-10 and SO2 as the main pollutants. Natural gas, although not the dominant energy source in China, is becoming one of the most attractive clean substitutes for coal. On one hand, there is widespread disagreement and doubt about the rationale for burning natural gas instead of using it as a raw material in the chemical industry. On the other hand, the economic advantages of natural gas over clean-coal technology are crucial in deciding whether to promote the use of natural gas as a fuel. This research has four goals: Firstly, it quantifies the health damage caused by air pollution, particularly coal burining, in Beijing and Chongqing. Secondly, it explores the rationale behind using natural gas for municipal (residential and commercial) energy production through two comparison studies: (a) using natural gas as clean fuel versus using it as a chemical industry raw material, and (b) using natural gas versus clean coal technology. Thirdly, it performs a cost-benefit analysis of urban natural gas substitution projects in Beijing and Chongqing. The evidence indicates that in cities with the most concentrated population and economic activity, natural gas as the municipal energy source has clear environmental benefits in reducing the concentration of non-point and low-level air pollution.