Of more than 1 million annual deaths in China due to air pollution, about 44% can be attributed to consumption activities of Chinese households. We show that the more deaths are related rural than urban consumers, largely due to direct emissions from solid fuel combustion in rural China. Our results may inform more effective and equitable clean air policies in China.

Future climate change may exacerbate the impacts of Chinese air pollution by increasing the frequency and duration of weather conditions that enhance pollution exposure. Under a scenario that avoids 3°C of mean warming but holds emissions constant, we estimate 12,100 and 8,900 more Chinese will die each year from PM2.5 and ozone exposure, respectively.

If operated as historically, existing fossil energy infrastructure will emit >650 Gt of CO₂, well over the most recent 1.5°C carbon budgets and 2/3 of the remaining 2°C budget. There is thus little or no room for new fossil infrastructure under the targets; rather existing infrastructure must be retired early.

Some water uses are more or less flexible than others due to larger curtailment costs or social impacts. We construct and present a new water stress index that integrates water scarcity, flexibility, and variability, and use it to evaluate the most-stressed basins worldwide.

Although there are many options for reducing energy-related CO₂ emissions, some energy services entail emissions that are much more difficult to eliminate. We review technological opportunities and barriers for eliminating and/or managing difficult-to-decarbonize services, and critical areas for further research, development, demonstration and deployment.