The synergic impacts of air pollution control policies on pollutants and carbon emissions.

The Chinese government implemented air pollution control policies in its Five-Year Plans (FYPs), setting specific emission reduction targets for different regions. This study employed the generalized difference-in-differences (GDD) method to assess the impacts of air pollution control policies on pollutants and carbon emissions from 2003 to 2020. This study had three main findings. (1) Air pollution control policies promoted the reduction of total SO2 and carbon emissions, indicating that these policies had synergic impacts on pollutants and carbon emissions. (2) The reduction in emissions due to air pollution control policies primarily originated from industrial emissions, particularly in reducing industrial SO2 emissions from process of production. (3) The emission reduction targets of different pollutants showed varying effects; SO2 reduction targets significantly lowered overall SO2 emissions, whereas NOx reduction targets effectively reduced industrial NOx and carbon emissions.