Coordinated Reduction of Reactive Nitrogen and Volatile Organic Compounds Enables Greater and More Equitable Integrated Health and Ecological Benefits

Air pollution imposes significant health and ecological damages. However, previous studies targeted on air quality improvement, focused on one of the two impacts independently of the other and fail to consider both health and ecological losses. This study establishes a dynamic multicity and multisector modeling framework by integrating emission inventories, future mitigation pathways, response surface models, and monetization methods of health and ecological benefits. Taking the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China as a case, we quantify the integrated benefits of air pollution control and propose coordinated emission reduction strategies of multiple species aiming at maximizing integrated benefits. Results show that from 2013 to 2020, emission reductions lowered annual economic losses by 709.5 billion CNY, with ecological benefits accounting for nearly half of health benefits. NH₃ and NO_<i>x</i> reductions were found to be particularly effective in achieving integrated benefits nowadays, with an optimal reduction ratio of approximately 0.75 across the YRD, and stronger NH₃ mitigation needed in northeastern regions. Carbon neutrality pathways combined with targeted NH₃ and VOCs controls yield greater equity, especially benefiting less-developed areas. On-road vehicles and agriculture are identified as key sectors for achieving overall health and ecological benefits. These findings provide a replicable model for multipollutant, multiobjective air quality management in rapidly industrializing regions worldwide.