[Synergistic Benefits of Pollution and Carbon Reduction from Air Pollution Control in Hebei Province from 2013 to...

Recently, China has been facing the dual challenges of air pollution control and carbon emission reduction. Pollution and carbon reduction have become a breakthrough point for green socio-economic transformation. Air pollutant and CO₂ emission inventories provide a tool for monitoring pollution and carbon reduction; however, there have been some problems in previous studies, including incomplete species coverage, different source classifications, and narrow time scales. Based on the unified emission source classification system and estimation method, an emission inventory was developed for Hebei Province from 2013 to 2020, and the emission trends, structure change, driving force, synergistic benefits, and spatial distribution were analyzed. Hebei Province achieved a balance during the study period in socio-economic development and anthropogenic emission control. SO₂ emissions decreased rapidly during the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" period. VOCs and NH₃ emissions reduction were more significant during the "Blue Sky Defense War" period. The decrease rates of NO and PM_2.5 emissions were relatively stable, and CO₂ emissions increased slightly. The coal-fired treatment effectively reduced the air pollutant and CO₂ emissions and strengthening the emission standards for key industries reduced SO₂, NO, and PM_2.5 emissions; however, the VOCs emission control requires improvement. Power and residential sources achieved co-reduction of air pollutants and CO₂ and reducing residential coal optimized the energy structure, thereby leading to greater synergistic benefits in the residential source. The key pollution and carbon reduction areas in Hebei Province were Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Handan, Baoding, and Langfang. The methods and conclusions in this study can provide technical and decision-making references for regional pollution and carbon reduction efforts.