Is energy the key to pursuing clean air and water at the city level? A case study of Jinan City, China

Abstract Concern toward air and water pollution is increasing worldwide due to their adverse impacts on human health and the ecosystem. Cities are the core of in policy design and implementation as they are basic administrative units. However, existing studies only conducted city-level carbon dioxide calculations at the inventory level and failed to reflect its impacts on health and the ecosystem. In this study, air and water pollution at the city level were quantitatively analyzed from environmental and economic perspectives by conducting a case study of Jinan City, China, from 2005 to 2017. The results showed that the human and ecological impacts and economic burdens of pollution were 1.60 × 105 DALY, 600.13 species.year, and $5.36 × 109 in 2017, respectively, which were mainly derived from air pollution. This study demonstrated that energy consumption contributed the most to the overall impacts. CO2, PM10, SO2, and Cu are key crucial substances for reducing environmental and economic burdens. Key sector analysis revealed that the impacts were mainly due to raw coal consumption in the electric and heat power sector. The ecosystem quality impact of imported energy was 1.45 times higher than that of direct emissions. Effective measures of managing the environmental and economic impacts of air and water pollution at the city-level include adjusting the types of energy used, the promotion of clean coal technologies, adjusting the industrial structure, implementing total quantity control, and internalizing external costs.