Vehicle emission and atmospheric pollution in China: problems, progress, and prospects

Jin Wang; Qiuxia Wu; Juan Liu; Hong Yang; Meiling Yin; Shili Chen; Peiyu Guo; Jiamin Ren; Xuwen Luo; Wensheng Linghu; Qiong Huang

doi:10.7717/peerj.6932

Vehicle emission and atmospheric pollution in China: problems, progress, and prospects

PeerJ. 2019 May 16:7:e6932. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6932. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Jin Wang¹, Qiuxia Wu¹, Juan Liu¹, Hong Yang^{2

3}, Meiling Yin¹, Shili Chen¹, Peiyu Guo¹, Jiamin Ren¹, Xuwen Luo¹, Wensheng Linghu⁴, Qiong Huang³

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
³ Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract

China has been the largest vehicle market in the world since 2009. The stalemate between the rapid development of the vehicle industry and delayed vehicle emission control has become increasingly prominent. Vehicle emission has become a significant source of air pollution in China's cities. Understanding the current barriers in the vehicle industry is necessary for the development of effective and sustainable measures and policy to manage vehicle-induced air pollution. This review provides insight into the circumstances and causes of vehicle-induced air pollution and outlines recent progress in policy-makers' long-term strategies and regulations. The development of an integrated mechanism of social participation, technical revolution, and regulatory innovation in vehicles, fuel, and roads is suggested to break the stalemate between air pollution and the automobile boom in China; the implications of this review extend to other countries facing the similar atmospheric pollution problems.

Keywords: Air pollution; Oil; PM2.5; Regulatory innovation; Renewable energy; Road; Vehicle emission.

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41773011, 41873015 and 41573008), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20170954), Open Research Fund Program of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring & Pollution Control (KHK1806), A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2017A030313247), Guangzhou University’s 2017 training program for young top-notch personnel (BJ201709) and Rural Non-point Source Pollution Comprehensive Management Technology Center of Guangdong Province. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.