Long-term variation of population exposure to PM2.5 in Eastern China: A perspective from SDG 11.6.2

TL;DR

This study analyzes the long-term variation of population exposure to PM2.5 in Eastern China from 2000 to 2020, demonstrating significant air quality improvements and the feasibility of using open geospatial data for SDG monitoring.

Contribution

It provides a city-level, long-term analysis of population exposure to PM2.5 using open data, filling a gap in SDG indicator monitoring at the city scale.

Findings

PWAM decreased significantly from 2014 to 2020

In 2020, 67% of the population experienced PM2.5 levels below WHO targets

Open geospatial data effectively monitor long-term air quality trends

Abstract

Air pollution (e.g., PM2.5) has a negative effect on human health. Recently, the population-weighted annual mean PM2.5 concentration (PWAM) has been selected as an indicator 11.6.2 in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for various countries to perfrom a long-term monitoring of population exposure to PM2.5 in cities. However, few studies have employed this indicator for a city-level analysis and also in a long-time series (e.g., for decades). To fill this research gap, this study investigates the long-term (2000-2020) variation of population exposure to PM2.5 in Eastern China (including 318 prefecture-level cities). Three categories of open geospatial data (including high-resolution and long-term PM2.5 and population data, and administrative boundary data of cities) are involved for analysis. We found that: 1) A considerable decrease has been observed for the PWAM during 2014-2020. 2) In 2020, the PWAM is for the first time lower than the interim target-1 (35 {\mu}g/m3) defined by the World Health Organization for 214 prefecture-level cities in Eastern China, which accounts for 67% of the total population. The results indicates a considerable improvement of air quality in Eastern China. More important, this study illustrates the feasibility of using open geospatial data to monitor the SDG indicator 11.6.2.