LAPSE:2023.24490
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.24490
The Impact of “Coal to Gas” Policy on Air Quality: Evidence from Beijing, China
Zhe Liu, Xueli Chen, Jinyang Cai, Tomas Baležentis, Yue Li
March 28, 2023
Air pollution has become an increasingly serious environmental problem in China. Especially in winter, the air pollution in northern China becomes even worse due to winter heating. The “coal to gas” policy, which uses natural gas to replace coal in the heating system in winter, was implemented in Beijing in the year 2013. However, the effects of this policy reform have not been examined. Using a panel dataset of 16 districts in Beijing, this paper employs a first difference model to examine the impact of the “coal to gas” policy on air quality. Strong evidence shows that the “coal to gas” policy has significantly improved the air quality in Beijing. On average, the “coal to gas” policy reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10), particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) by 12.08%, 4.89%, 13.07%, 11.94% and 11.10% per year, respectively. We find that the “coal to gas” policy is more effective in areas with less energy use efficiency. The finding of this paper suggests that the government should continue to implement the “coal to gas” policy, so as to alleviate the air pollution in Beijing, China.
Keywords
air pollution, Beijing, coal to gas, winter heating
Suggested Citation
Liu Z, Chen X, Cai J, Baležentis T, Li Y. The Impact of “Coal to Gas” Policy on Air Quality: Evidence from Beijing, China. (2023). LAPSE:2023.24490
Author Affiliations
Liu Z: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Chen X: Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100732, China
Cai J: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Sustainable Development Research Institute for Economy and Society of Beijing, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Baležentis T: Division of Farm and Enterprise Economics, Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics, 03220 Vilnius, Lithuania [ORCID]
Li Y: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Journal Name
Energies
Volume
13
Issue
15
Article Number
E3876
Year
2020
Publication Date
2020-07-29
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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PII: en13153876, Publication Type: Journal Article
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doi:10.3390/en13153876
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