How is pollution in China affecting the Chinese economy?

To fight back, China's leaders have been waging a tough war on pollution by rolling out new technologies, capping coal use and using more renewable energy, such as solar and wind. "It's too early ... But, he added, even burning crop waste can affect air quality, which makes cleaning up pollution complex. read more

Air pollution is clearly very costly, though, to its $11-trillion-plus economy. It dings China's GDP about 6.5 percent annually, according to RAND Corp. estimates. Those costs are mainly driven by lost productivity, since factories are shut down on bad air days to avoid the dangerous health effects of breathing the dense, toxic air. read more

In a DW interview, the ADB's environment expert Qingfeng Zhang outlines the impact pollution is having on China's agricultural sector, talks about the damage cost of air and water pollution for the economy, and explains how a more effective environment tax could help. read more

And it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut. Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. read more