Low-carbon city development is a pilot project China started in 2010 to combat air pollution and the greenhouse effect. Approximately 80 cities have participated in this project as they explore ways to meet their sustainability goals.
Policy changes include buying out high emissions industries and investing in environmentally friendly technologies such as clean energy, low-emissions buildings and low-carbon transportation.
A study published by the Development Research Center of the State Council, a State-run think tank, looks at data from some pilot cities and concluded that adopting a green way of living not only reduced pollution but also saved money for these cities.
“After nearly 10 years of the low-carbon movement, urban areas have seen significant improvement in air quality,” said the authors of the study. “There is an average 9.8 percent decrease in the concentration of PM 10 (inhalable particles that are 10 micrometers or less in diameter) and the air pollution index has dropped by an average 6.8 percent.”
Low-carbon cities come with a price as the government pays to shut down the most polluting factories or to build a more sustainable infrastructure. However, they do bring enough benefits to offset the costs, the study found.
“For every increase in the amount of PM 10 by 10 micrograms in a cubic meter of air, hospital visits increase by 0.49 percent and the total health service spending increases by 0.47 percent,” said the authors, citing data collected in Shanghai in 2015. Nationwide, between 2010 and 2015, the low-carbon project helped cities cut their health spending by US$2.98 billion, they said.
“A government’s low-carbon policy can solve the pollution problem for the city while helping with its growth challenge as well,” the study concluded.