Radiative Forcing and Health Impact of Aerosols and Ozone in China as the Consequence of Clean Air Actions over 2012–2017

We applied the chemical transport model GEOS‐Chem to examine the changes in aerosols and tropospheric O 3 in China from 2012–2017 and the associated radiative forcing and health impact. Simulated surface layer concentrations and column burdens of aerosols and O 3 were evaluated by comparing with ground‐based and satellite‐retrieved measurements. Between 2012 and 2017, simulated annual mean concentrations of PM 2.5 decreased by 21.0%, while O 3 increased by 11.9% over eastern China (20–45°N, 105–122.5°E). Changes in aerosols and O 3 over 2012–2017 jointly exerted a positive radiative forcing of 1.26 W/m 2 over eastern China, which was dominated by the less cooling from PM 2.5 reductions (1.18 W/m 2 ). The Global Exposure Mortality Model predicted 268.3 (247.3–291.6) thousand (9.6%) fewer deaths in eastern China in 2017 relative to 2012. These results suggest an appreciable health benefit and a potential warming as a consequence of clean air actions.