The Ancillary Carbon Benefits of SO2 Reductions from a Small-Boiler Policy in Taiyuan,PRC

Abstract

Proposals for greenhouse-gas reductions have been met with widespread skepticism in the developing world, in part because such countries find their conventional air-pollution problems more pressing. The goal of this article is to examine whether reductions in carbon emissions that are ancillary to conventional pollutant reductions from a policy to phase out small boilers in down-town Taiyuan, China are large enough to make such policies attractive carbon-reducing investments to developed countries. Based on the authors’ survey data, there are significant carbon benefits (on the order of 50% to 95% reduction) associated with this policy, with large reduction potential elsewhere in China. Although the cost for boilers that switched out of coal was almost U.S. $2,900 per ton of SO ₂ reduced, these ancillary carbon reductions are free from a social perspective. Such initiatives represent a potentially significant source of carbon reductions that developed countries could help pay for, bringing significant health and other benefits to the country.