Chinese who live north of the Huai River will lose an aggregate 2.5 billion years of life expectancy due to the extensive use of coal burning in the region, concludes a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

The authors of this study estimated the impacts of particulate matter from coal-powered heating on life expectancy. In the process, the authors developed a rule-of-thumb for the effects of air pollution stating that every additional 100 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter in the atmosphere lowers life expectancy at birth by three years.

 

The researchers also compared the effects of energy policy on life expectancy. People who live south of the Huai River — the conventional "dividing line" between north and south in China — had lower rates of mortality associated with diseases linked to exposure to particulates. The difference: the Chinese government provided free coal for fuel boilers in the north, but not in the south.

 

The paper comes shortly after China adopted a framework on limiting carbon emissions, and adds further weight to the need to curb coal use. Currently limited to a handful of cities, the Chinese government hopes the program could eventually cut the country's emissions, which are the highest of any country on Earth.