Energy Institute, Peking University，Shell (China) Co., Ltd., Beijing Gas, China Gas Association ，Beijing Ruiguan Energy Consulting Co., Ltd.

The increasingly serious environmental problems are threatening the survival and development of human beings more and more. The latest figures released by the United Nations Environment Programme show that 23% of the 12.6 million deaths worldwide each year are attributable to environmental factors. Among them, due to air pollution, about 5.5 million people die prematurely every year in the world.

Air pollution is closely related to climate change, and the extraction and utilization of coal and oil are not only the main emission sources of air pollutants, but also the main sources of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The massive consumption of fossil fuels has continued to deteriorate air quality, while increasing greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbating global warming. Climate change has become the most thorny environmental issue in the international community, and China is facing the dual challenges of climate change and environmental pollution at the same time. In September 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in my country by 2060, further emphasizing the importance and urgency of comprehensive carbon reduction.

In recent years, China has made great progress in air pollution control. China's first blue sky action plan, the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, has achieved the goal of reducing PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities by 30% in five years. Among them, Beijing has dropped by 35%, and the living environment of the people has been significantly improved. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) included Beijing as a success story in its report on air quality improvement in 2019, and hopes to extend this experience to other developing countries and regions. In the future, my country will further reduce pollution, improve the environment, reduce carbon emissions, and achieve carbon neutrality in the long run.

As a clean energy with high calorific value, natural gas can play an effective role in improving the atmospheric environment. The Research on the Role of Natural Gas in Improving China's Atmospheric Environment, jointly compiled by Energy Institute, Peking University，Shell (China) Co., Ltd., Beijing Gas, China Gas Association ，Beijing Ruiguan Energy Consulting Co.Ltd.. 9 coal-fired power plants, 10 gas-fired power plants, 31 gas-fired boilers, and 13 coal-fired boilers in Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain have carried out research work. Obtain the actual operation data as the data support for the subject research. In terms of evaluation system, this paper constructs an evaluation system covering multiple indicators such as emission concentration, emission performance, pollution equivalent, emission reduction cost, comprehensive benefit (investment income, land occupation, water consumption, energy consumption), and carbon emission.

 The environmental benefits of natural gas and coal in the fields of power generation and heating are comparatively studied in a hierarchical manner; and the environmental benefits of natural gas and coal in the fields of power generation and heating are discussed from the energy supply side as an entry point. This paper studies and analyzes the environmental benefits of natural gas power generation and coal-fired power generation in the process of peak regulation of renewable energy by means of quantitative analysis. The results of the study show that natural gas is superior to coal in terms of emission concentration, emission performance, carbon emissions and overall benefits in the fields of power generation and heating. In the field of power generation, although in recent years, with the continuous development of clean coal-fired technology, the cleanliness of coal-fired power generation applications has been continuously improved, but in general, the comprehensive benefits of gas power generation in terms of environmental protection still have obvious advantages, even if it has reached " The emission indicators of coal-fired power plants with ultra-low emission levels are still slightly lower than those of general gas-fired power plants; and there is still room for a substantial reduction in the emission limits of gas-fired power plants. 

In the field of heating, the indicators of gas boilers are also better than coal. Therefore, this report believes that natural gas is a high-quality, efficient and clean energy. Vigorously developing natural gas and increasing the proportion of natural gas in primary energy consumption is an important measure for China to reduce emissions and control environmental pollution; vigorously promoting "coal-to-gas" is to improve atmospheric environmental quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, resolve environmental constraints, and achieve green An effective way to low-carbon development.