Catalogue

The health impact from coal power plants in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei

Catalogue

Summary..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Policy demands............................................................................................................................................ 3 Estimated health impacts casued by coal power plants..............................................................................4 Map of modeled coal power plants and map of pollution dispersion from JJJ coal power plants...............6 Methodology............................................................................................................................................... 7 PM2.5 pollution and trends in Jingjinji........................................................................................................ 9 Understanding pollution from coal power plants......................................................................................10

Summary

Beijing and the Jingjinji region have a major air pollution problem that reached emergency proportions in winter 2012-2013. One of the key contributors to the problem is the very large amount of coal burning in the region, and power generation is the region’s biggest coal-burning sector. Greenpeace commissioned U.S. air pollution modeling expert Dr. H. Andrew Gray to assess the contribution for coal-fired power plants to the PM2.5 pollution in China. The modeling covers over 2,000 power plants, of which 200 are located in Jingjinji. Due to the ongoing debate about regional air pollution control, the results for the Jingjinji region are being released in advance of the final report. The key findings are:

1

The 192 coal-fired power plants within Jingjinji caused an estimated 9,900 preliminary deaths 1 including an estimated 850 deaths from lung cancer within the region in 2011, with 2,000 deaths in Beijing, 1,200 in Tianjin and 6,700 in Hebei. 75% of these impacts are caused by Hebei’s coal power plants. Except of 9,900 preliminary deaths, the health impact also includes 11,110 case asthma, 12,100 case Chronic Bronchitis, 1,010 case hospital admission and 59,500 outpatient visits Out of the 1,982 deaths and other health impacts in Beijing that are attributable to Jingjinji power plants, 63% is caused by power plants in Hebei and 19% by power plants in Tianjin. In other words, the health impacts caused by Hebei and Tianjin power plants in Beijing are four times as large as the impacts caused in Beijing by Beijing’s own coal-fired power plants. In Tianjin, 61% of the impacts are caused by Hebei power plants and 6% by Beijing power plants. In Hebei, 5% of the impacts are caused by Beijing power plants and 16% by Tianjin power plants. Hebei’s power plant emissions cause an estimated 7,400 preliminary deaths within Jingjinji, of which 1,244 in Beijing. Health impacts in Beijing include 200 lung cancers, 40 infant deaths, 1,900 children suffering from asthma, 14,000 doctor and hospital visits. The worst impacts of Jingjinji power plants befall Hebei, however, due to the large population. A total of 6,739 deaths, including 600 lung cancers are estimated to be caused by Jingjinji power plant pollution in Hebei. The concerns about PM2.5 contributing to China’s high lung cancer rates were highlighted by Greenpeace sampling and laboratory work over last winter, finding that the PM2.5 pollution contained harmful amounts of cancer-causing arsenic, lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic heavy metals. Arsenic levels exceeded national standards. WHO estimates that 20% of lung cancer in China is linked to PM2.5 pollution 2 . The power sector consumes over one third of all coal in the Jingjinji region, and is responsible for over one third of industrial SO 2 and NO x emissions. However, if all coal-burning sectors were included in the impact estimates, the results would be even larger: about 32% of coal consumption in Hebei is for power generation. This further emphasizes the need for regional level action.

1 9,927 deaths with a 95% confidence interval of 3,622-13,040. The health impacts quoted in this briefing are rounded central estimates. 2 Cohen, AJ 2013: The Burden of Disease Attributable to Ambient Air Pollution: Global, Regional; and Chinese Estimates from GBD 2010. Presentation at Air Pollution and Health Impacts Workshop, organized by HEI and Tsinghua University, Beijing March 2013.

2