Based at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

The China Project is a research program focused on China’s atmospheric environment, collaborating across the schools of Harvard University and with Chinese universities. It conducts interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed studies on air pollution and greenhouse gases in China, from the root causes in the demand for and supply of energy powering its economy, to the chemistry and transport of pollutants in the atmosphere, to their impacts on human health and the economy.  The studies are designed to build knowledge and capacities to inform policies that can align China's domestic priorities on environment and economic development with equitable international strategies on climate change.

PROJECT NEWS

An assessment by China Project researchers of the total wind power potential in China is the cover article of the September 11, 2009 issue of Science.

This research is led by Project Chair Michael McElroy and SEAS doctoral student LU Xi, taking advantage of NASA global meteorological datasets that have been validated by hundreds of studies of atmospheric transport and chemistry. It quantifies the meteorological, technological, and commercial potentials of wind power under current wind concession policies in China.

A good article on implications of and issues raised by the results is in MIT's Technology Review. The study has also been covered by the China Daily, major international newswires, and other news sources (links to a number of them here). See the wind power research page for more information and a related paper by the group in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Soil acidification in China: Is controlling SO2 enough? Environmental Science & Technology recently featured news and a research article by Project post-doc ZHAO Yu and colleagues on the possibility that  the gains to soil acidification of China's successful SO2 control program may be negated by recent growth in its NOx and ammonia emissions.

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How much were the reduced pollution levels of the Beijing Olympic Games due to policy-driven emission restrictions, and how much due to natural meteorological conditions?

For an answer, see a new research article by atmospheric chemists at Harvard and Tsinghua led by WANG Yuxuan, using observations from the Tsinghua-Harvard field station. The paper is dowloadable here from Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

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The first published study using wage rates to estimate the value of mortality risk in China, conducted by then-China Project researcher GUO Xiaoqi and Jim Hammitt of the Harvard School of Public Health, appears in Environmental and Resource Economics, click here.

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CAO Jing, Mun HO, and Dale Jorgenson have updated the economics of Clearing the Air (below) in The Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. A version of this research for a lay audience was also featured in an article in Harvard Magazine, "Greening China: Market-Based Policies for Air-Pollution Control."

Another paper, with Richard Garbaccio of U.S. EPA, uses the model to analyze the sulfur dioxide controls of the 11th Five Year Plan and is now also published in REEP. This results from research for a U.S. EPA-China MEP study under the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED). For more on this work, check a section on the SED at this link. See also description of an ongoing enhanced evaluation of SO2 policies here.

More reviews of Clearing the Air, China Project book on the total damages of air pollution, and economy-wide costs and benefits of taxes to control pollutants and CO2, edited by Mun HO and Chris Nielsen:

• "The encouraging -- indeed, politically crucial -- observation is that ... 'green taxes' would yield a double dividend: reducing ... damage while enhancing economic growth. ... [That] should be an offer that a government cannot refuse" -  Anthony J. McMichael, The Lancet (free registration)

• "In contrast to the World Bank report Cost of Pollution in China: economic estimates and physical damages (2007), which caught the attention of the international mainstream mass media ..., this edited volume ... stands as a solemn, solid, and scholarly defence of the same alarming message - air pollution causes significant damage to the Chinese population and economy." ... "Reader-friendly" ... "a methodological breakthrough in the research on the environment-health nexus in China ..." - Fengshi Wu, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature

• "[I]mpressively integrated" ... "The multidisciplinary framework... allows for a total picture to emerge" ... "At a time when Beijing should be considering not only its local pollution problem, but also its global greenhouse gas emissions, [the book's policy] suggestions are a welcome addition to the debate ..." - Sam Geall, Far Eastern Economic Review (June 2008)

• "[Should] appeal to a broad readership. ... The first three chapters ... provide an easily understandable synopsis ... perfect for readers ... or for faculty teaching a broad survey course on China ... This volume is to be commended as a very accessible presentation of an ambitious and thorough research undertaking." - Robert W. Mead, The China Quarterly.

• For more book reviews click here.
• Order the book at MIT Press or Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

• Click here for a description of the study and lead policy conclusion, including how to interpret national damage estimates such as premature mortality and percent of GDP. A new research phase currently underway, integrating the framework of Clearing the Air with the Project's separately-developed capacities in atmospheric science, is described here.

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PROJECT INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH AREAS

• Understanding China's Atmosphere: Sources, Transport, and Chemistry

• Measuring Air Pollutants and Trace Gases: Atmospheric Station

• Wind Power Potentials

• Understanding China's Economy and Energy Use

• Clearing the Air: Health and Economic Damages of Air Pollution

• Evaluating GHG and Pollution Control Options: Integrating Economics, Engineering, Atmospheric Science, and Environmental Health

• Urban Transport, Land Use, Air Quality, and Health in Chengdu
  

• Environmental Law, Politics, and Culture

PUBLICATIONS

SEMINARS

PEOPLE

JOINING THE RESEARCH

OFFICES AND CONTACTS

Note: Except for publications, this website observes Chinese name order, placing surnames in all-capitals for clarity.