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 schools of Harvard University and with Chinese universities. It conducts interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed studies related to air pollution and greenhouse gases in China, from root causes in the demand for and supply of energy to power its economy, to the chemistry and transport of pollutants in the atmosphere, to their impacts on human health, agriculture, and ecosystems. The studies are designed to build knowledge and research capacities to help align China's domestic priorities on environment and development with equitable international strategies on climate change.

PROJECT NEWS

How accurate are estimates of China's emissions of carbon dioxide, and what is the geographical distribution of CO2 emissions within China?

A China Project study led by post-doc ZHAO Yu (Zhao, Nielsen, and McElroy 2012a, under journal review) makes independent scientific estimates of China's annual CO2 emissions for 2005-2009, extending emission inventories of criteria air pollutants that have previously been tested against measurements by ground stations and satellites (Zhao et al. 2012b, 2011a,b,c, 2010, 2009; see publications). The study also quantifies the uncertainties of Chinese CO2 emissions, for the first time using rigorous statistical methods including Monte Carlo simulations. Check this space for a future publication announcement.

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Can the state of China's economy be seen from space, reflected in concentrations of pollutants in its atmosphere?

A Project analysis by LIN Jintai (now at the School of Physics, Beijing University) and Michael McElroy (Lin and McElroy 2011) indicates that satellite observations not only can shed light on concentrations of air pollutants such as NO2, but provide independent evidence of the state of China's economy. The figure shows the 12-month moving averages of vertical column densities of NO2 observed in four series from instruments on three satellites, along with total thermal power generation. These are expressed relative to the averages of each series from Oct 2007 to Sep 2008, to accentuate the effects of the global economic crisis.

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A study led by WANG Yuxuan and Bill Munger, Wang et al. 2010b, analyzes CO2 and CO levels measured at the Miyun atmospheric observatory north of Beijing built and operated by Tsinghua University and the Harvard China Project. After controlling for a number of influences including background CO2 levels and natural sources and sinks, the CO2:CO ratio indicates increasing combustion efficiency in China over time, consistent with the energy efficiency policies of the 11th Five Year Plan. A summary for non-scientists of this paper in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics is available at this link.

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How much wind power could China ideally generate, given meteorology, geography and land uses, turbine technology, and current policies?

An assessment by China Project researchers of the total wind power potential in China was the cover article of Science.

This research is led by Project Chair Michael McElroy and post-doc 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 economic potentials of wind power under recent 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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Check the reviews of Clearing the Air, the China Project book on the damages of air pollution, and comprehensive costs and benefits of taxes to control pollutants and CO2, edited by Mun HO and Chris Nielsen:

• "(T)he most comprehensive report on economic costs and human health impacts of air pollution ever undertaken in China." - KAN Haidong, Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, China Review International

• "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, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, The Lancet (free registration)

• Click here for more book reviews, by reviewers in health science, geography, economics, political science, history, and journalism.

• 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 is currently underway, integrating the framework of Clearing the Air with the Project's separately-developed capacities in atmospheric science, described here.

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PROJECT INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH AREAS

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

• Measuring Air Pollutants and Greenhouse Gases: Miyun Atmospheric Station

• Wind Power Potentials

• China's Economy and Energy Use

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

• Assessing Options to Control Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollutants in China

• 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 listings of publication authors, this website observes Chinese name order, placing surnames in all-capitals for clarity.