Mitigation potential of global ammonia emissions and related health impacts in the trade network

Rong Ma; Ke Li; Yixin Guo; Bo Zhang; Xueli Zhao; Soeren Linder; ChengHe Guan; Guoqian Chen; Yujie Gan; Jing Meng

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25854-3

Mitigation potential of global ammonia emissions and related health impacts in the trade network

Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 5;12(1):6308. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25854-3.

Authors

Rong Ma^#¹, Ke Li^#^{2

3}, Yixin Guo^{4

5}, Bo Zhang⁶, Xueli Zhao⁷, Soeren Linder⁸, ChengHe Guan⁹, Guoqian Chen¹⁰, Yujie Gan¹¹, Jing Meng¹²

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
² Harvard-NUIST Joint Laboratory for Air Quality and Climate, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.
³ John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
⁵ Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁶ School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China. zhangbo@cumtb.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China.
⁸ Joint Research Centre, Food Security Group, European Commissions, Ispra, Italy.
⁹ Arts and Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
¹⁰ Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Sustainability Science, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
¹¹ School of Government, The Leo KoGuan Building, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China.
¹² The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University of College London, London, WC1E 7HB, UK. jing.j.meng@ucl.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Ammonia (NH₃) emissions, mainly from agricultural sources, generate substantial health damage due to the adverse effects on air quality. NH₃ emission reduction strategies are still far from being effective. In particular, a growing trade network in this era of globalization offers untapped emission mitigation potential that has been overlooked. Here we show that about one-fourth of global agricultural NH₃ emissions in 2012 are trade-related. Globally they induce 61 thousand PM_2.5-related premature mortalities, with 25 thousand deaths associated with crop cultivation and 36 thousand deaths with livestock production. The trade-related health damage network is regionally integrated and can be characterized by three trading communities. Thus, effective cooperation within trade-dependent communities will achieve considerable NH₃ emission reductions allowed by technological advancements and trade structure adjustments. Identification of regional communities from network analysis offers a new perspective on addressing NH₃ emissions and is also applicable to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions mitigation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture / methods*
Air Pollutants / analysis*
Air Pollutants / poisoning
Ammonia / analysis*
Ammonia / poisoning
Animals
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Fertilizers / adverse effects
Fertilizers / analysis*
Greenhouse Gases / analysis
Greenhouse Gases / poisoning
Internationality
Livestock / physiology*
Manure / analysis*

Substances

Air Pollutants
Fertilizers
Greenhouse Gases
Manure
Ammonia