{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T16:46:28Z","timestamp":1791045988460,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"22","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,18]],"date-time":"2020-11-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1605657600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004543","name":"China Scholarship Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CSC201907080003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CSC201907080003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004543","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Thermal power generation based on coal-fired power plants has the advantages of stability and controllability and has been the largest source of electricity supply in China. Coal-fired power plants, however, are also accompanied by high carbon emissions and the release of harmful substances (mainly including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and smoke dust), and are even regarded as the \u201cchief criminal\u201d in terms of air pollution. However, thermal power is also a pioneering industry involved in several environmental regulations and cleaner production techniques before other industries. Evidence of this is China\u2019s ultra-low emissions (ULE) policy on coal-fired power plants, implemented in 2015. To verify this policy\u2019s effect, this study treats ULE as an exogenous impact variable, examining its emissions reduction effect on SO2, NOx, and smoke dust in Eastern and Central China using the difference-in-difference method (DID). The results show that the total emissions of the three pollutants were abated by 0.133%, 0.057% and 0.036% in Eastern, and by 0.120%, 0.035% and 0.043% in Central China at every 1% rise of thermal power generated after ULE. In addition, several other factors can also argue for the promotion of thermal power. Other industries, such as steel or chemical, have proven that they can contribute significant SO2 and NOx emissions. Based on these results, we provide suggestions on synergistic emissions reduction among multiple industries, as well as a discussion on the necessity of implementing ULE in Western China.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17228555","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,18]],"date-time":"2020-11-18T07:41:00Z","timestamp":1605685260000},"page":"8555","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Did an Ultra-Low Emissions Policy on Coal-Fueled Thermal Power Reduce the Harmful Emissions? Evidence from Three Typical Air Pollutants Abatement in China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0118-4054","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Penghao","family":"Ye","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China"},{"name":"Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Senmao","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship &amp; Center for Business in Society, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chaoyang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Environment and Health, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4791-3264","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fei","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Center for Environment and Health, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiamin","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huarong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1467","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.6b03731","article-title":"Burden of Disease from Rising Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions in Southeast Asia","volume":"51","author":"Koplitz","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2015.02.022","article-title":"The variation of chemical characteristics of PM2.5 and PM10 and formation causes during two haze pollution events in urban Beijing, China","volume":"107","author":"Gao","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"2087","article-title":"The Economic Cost Evaluation of Haze Events in China","volume":"33","author":"Mu","year":"2013","journal-title":"China Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"25","article-title":"Does winter heating cause smog? Evidence from a city panel in north China","volume":"4","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nankai Econ. Stud."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1778","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.energyfuels.6b02919","article-title":"Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Condensable Particulate Matter from an Ultralow-Emission Coal-Fired Power Plant","volume":"31","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"Energy Fuels"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"National Environmental Protection Agency (1991). Emission Standards of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants (GB 13223-1991), China Standards Press."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"National Environmental Protection Agency (1996). Emission Standards of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants (GB 13223-1996), China Standards Press."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"National Environmental Protection Agency (2003). Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants (GB13223-2003), China Standards Press."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"National Environmental Protection Agency (2011). Emission Standard of Air Pollutants for Thermal Power Plants (GB 13223-2011), China Standards Press."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of P.R China, and National Energy Administration (2015). Full Implementation of the Ultra-Low Emission and Energy-Saving Transformation Work Plan for Coal-Fired Power Plants, General Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"General Office of the State Council (2014). Energy Development Strategy Action Plan (2014-2020), General Office of the State Council."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of P.R China, and National Energy Administration (2014). Coal-Fired Energy-Saving Emission Reduction Upgrade and Transformation Action Plan (2014-2020), National Energy Administration."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2123","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2009.06.003","article-title":"Clean coal technology development in China","volume":"38","author":"Chen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3495","DOI":"10.1007\/s11269-012-0087-0","article-title":"Downstream Hydrological Impacts of Hydropower Development in the Upper Mekong Basin","volume":"26","author":"Koponen","year":"2012","journal-title":"Water Resour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2637","DOI":"10.1140\/epjst\/e2014-02217-8","article-title":"Kolmogorov spectrum of renewable wind and solar power fluctuations","volume":"223","author":"Tabar","year":"2014","journal-title":"Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"887","DOI":"10.1080\/1331677X.2020.1734853","article-title":"Bibliometric analysis on the research of offshore wind power based on web of science","volume":"33","author":"Ye","year":"2020","journal-title":"Econ. Res.-Ekon. Istra\u017eivanja"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"484","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2016.11.008","article-title":"Public acceptance of constructing coastal\/inland nuclear power plants in post-Fukushima China","volume":"101","author":"Wu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balzani, V., and Armaroli, N. (2010). Energy for a Sustainable World: From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future, John Wiley & Sons.","DOI":"10.1002\/9783527633593"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"822","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apenergy.2011.08.039","article-title":"High intensity colorless distributed combustion for ultra low emissions and enhanced performance","volume":"92","author":"Arghode","year":"2012","journal-title":"Appl. Energy"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.esr.2014.11.004","article-title":"Penetration of clean coal technology and its impact on China\u2019s power industry","volume":"7","author":"Na","year":"2015","journal-title":"Energy Strategy Rev."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.energyfuels.8b03549","article-title":"Coeffect of Air Pollution Control Devices on Trace Element Emissions in an Ultralow Emission Coal-Fired Power Plant","volume":"33","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Energy Fuels"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.2298\/SJEE1002231V","article-title":"Power electronics solution to dust emissions from thermal power plants","volume":"7","author":"Popov","year":"2010","journal-title":"Serb. J. Electr. Eng."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1459","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2017.05.046","article-title":"Improving the removal of particles and trace elements from coal-fired power plants by combining a wet phase transition agglomerator with wet electrostatic precipitator","volume":"161","author":"Cao","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"24 Chen, Y.B., Zhang, Y., and Ling, W. (2016). Practice on Ultra-low Emission and Energy Efficient Technologies in Coal-fired Power Plants. Front. Eng. Manag., 3, 377\u2013383.","DOI":"10.15302\/J-FEM-2016045"},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"39","article-title":"Coal-fired Power Plants Ultra-low Emissions: Opportunities and Challenges","volume":"44","author":"Han","year":"2016","journal-title":"Environ. Prot."},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"1","article-title":"Simulation Study of the Impacts of Ultra-low Emission Implemented in Thermal Power Plants on PM2.5 Mass Concentration in Ambient Air of Jiangsu Province","volume":"12","author":"Zhao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Electr. Power"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tang, L., Qu, J., Mi, Z., Bo, X., Chang, X., Anadon, L.D., Wang, S., Xue, X., Li, S., and Wang, X. (2019). Substantial emission reductions from Chinese power plants after the introduction of ultra-low emissions standards. Nat. Energy.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41560-019-0468-1"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"091002","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/ab99fe","article-title":"An ultra-low emission coal power fleet for cleaner but not hotter air","volume":"15","author":"Jin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"122729","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhazmat.2020.122729","article-title":"Impact of ultra-low emission technology retrofit on the mercury emissions and cross-media transfer in coal-fired power plants","volume":"396","author":"Wen","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Hazard. Mater."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018). China Statistical Yearbook, China Statistics Press."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Department of Energy Statistics (2018). China Energy Statistical Yearbook, China Statistics Press."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"National Bureau of Statistics, and Ministry of Ecology and Environment (2018). China Statitical Yearbook on Environment, China Statistics Press."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.2307\/1924332","article-title":"Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on Earnings","volume":"60","author":"Ashenfelter","year":"1978","journal-title":"Rev. Econ. Stat."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.1080\/07350015.1995.10524589","article-title":"Natural and Quasi-Experiments in Economics","volume":"13","author":"Meyer","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Bus. Econ. Stat."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2401","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2014.16153","article-title":"Methods for Evaluating Changes in Health Care Policy: The Difference-in-Differences Approach","volume":"312","author":"Dimick","year":"2014","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3038","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.104.10.3038","article-title":"Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India","volume":"104","author":"Greenstone","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am. Econ. Rev."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2019.01.144","article-title":"Can high-speed rail reduce environmental pollution? Evidence from China","volume":"239","author":"Yang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_38","first-page":"1439","article-title":"Environmental Subsidy and Pollution Abatement: Evidence from the Power Industry","volume":"15","author":"Shi","year":"2016","journal-title":"China Econ. Q."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Department of Industry Statistics, and National Bureau Statistics of China (2017). China Industry Statistical Yearbook, China Statistics Press."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, Q., Kennedy, C., Wang, T., Wei, W., Li, J., and Shi, L. (2020). Transforming the coal and steel nexus for China\u2019s eco-civilization: Interplay between rail and energy infrastructure. J. Ind. Ecol.","DOI":"10.1111\/jiec.13040"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"834","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enbuild.2016.07.046","article-title":"Ventilation guidelines for controlling smoke, dust, droplets and waste heat: Four representative case studies in Chinese industrial buildings","volume":"128","author":"Huang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Energy Build."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1944","DOI":"10.4209\/aaqr.2018.02.0070","article-title":"Potential air quality improvements from ultralow emissions at coal-fired power plants in China","volume":"18","author":"Ni","year":"2018","journal-title":"Aerosol. Air Qual. Res."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"Ministry of Ecology and Environment of P.R China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Transport (2019). Suggestions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-Low Emissions in the Steel Industry, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China."}],"container-title":["International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/17\/22\/8555\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T10:33:54Z","timestamp":1760178834000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/17\/22\/8555"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,18]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"22","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11]]}},"alternative-id":["ijerph17228555"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijerph17228555","relation":{},"ISSN":["1660-4601"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1660-4601","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,18]]}}}