How China Battle with Air Pollution?

We all know China is THE production factory in the world. Day by day, China emits thousands and thousands of air pollutants to the upper atmosphere. Many industrial cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing are playing a significant role in this process by maintaining a higher level of annual average delicate particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration in their regions.

But with starting of the Olympics 2009 in Beijing, China has taken a more significant step forward by enhancing its capacity to uplift the atmospheric well balance with industrial development through their National Standards and guidance by WHO.

From today’s KNOW YOUR FACTS, let’s talk about how china fight against air pollution and what they plan to do in the future. Read and Enjoy.

China In Last Decade

With the beginning of the new industrial era, China played a significant role in the massive production scale with its low-budget working force and financial background.

This eventually led to the start of thousands of industrial factories on a mass scale, and the country was performing a significant role in the world’s economy. But there was a hidden defect with this substantial financial development which was developing and drawing back the living situation of the people in China day by day.

That was environmental pollution which also has been arisen up in mega-scale. On that list, Air quality breakdown did a massive blow to the entire region of East Asia.

According to wiki records, in 2016, only 84 administrative divisions in China out of 338 had been passed the excellent air quality levels of the national air quality parameters. But with the sustainable steps taken by the authorities, that value has reached up to near 80% of the total.

According to the records of the Statista, there was above 80 µg/cm3 continuous peak region on PM 2.5 pollutants scale near the 2015 timeline (Beijing). But with steps taken by the authorities, these values led to a gradual decrease.

Now (2021), that value read as 40.5 µg/cm3, which is a quite impressive development.

Following the studies in the medical journal The Lancet, there were 1.24 million people who died from exposure to air pollution in China, and this since 2000 total count adds up to 30 million according to the New Scientist magazine.

Why was China Air Pollution High?

China has gained massive development in the past two decades with the rising economy. But those victories have come with several defects too. A breakdown between the sustainability of the environment and the economy has been poorly constructed through that process.

denys nevozhai 7nrsVjvALnA unsplash — Traffic make worse the siuation

This process leads to;

Growth of Vehicles
High energy consumption
High Coal burn (Mostly in the season of winter)
Unsustainable byproduct management
Unbalance ecosystem

With a sort of upgrade of the economy, certain defects come through the back door with several impacts on the current and future society day by day.

As a country, government and authorities need to understand the balance of these inconveniences through well-managed policies. Let’s see how China developed that concept.

How China Tackled it

This achievement was not reached in a single night. They announced a 5-year action plan. It was known as a declaration of a “war against pollution” by Premier Li Keqiang at the beginning of 2014 during the opening of China’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.

The plan was set to end of 2017, and it was coming with huge investments with $270 billion, and for the city of Beijing, there was an additional $120 billion investment.

The target was to reduce the PM10 air pollutant impact on urban areas by 10% from 2012 records.

specific targets on that list were;

Reduce the PM 2.5 air pollutant levels in the following specific regions

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei by 25%
Pearl River Delta by 20%
Yangtze River Delta by 15%

Reduce the PM 2.5 in Beijing by 34% from the 2013 records

Here are how they walked that path by following a strategic action plan.

1. Enforce emission standards

In 2017 government canceled the production of 553 vehicle models which do not follow the fuel standard of the country. Some of them are well-known, income-generating flatforms to the country.

2. Escalation of the renewable energy generation

In 2017, china could level up its energy consumption through renewable energy by 25% of the total energy consumption.

karsten wurth 0w uTa0Xz7w unsplash 1 — Renewable Energy is the best option for future

3. Restricting Car entrance to cities

The government enforces a vehicle entering system policy that limits emissions to a specific amount on a given day. This could be seen in cities like;

Beijing
Shanghai
Guangzhou

They specifically introduce a license plate system to control this situation.

4. Limit and prohibit Coal-fired Plants

In 2017 china shut down 27 major coal plants in Shanxi province, which was the largest coal supplier in china.

And in the year 2018, Beijing shut down their last power plant and canceled all the planned ones too.

dominik vanyi Mk2ls9UBO2E unsplash — Coal power plants worse the situation

The main target of this project was to replace them with natural gases in the near future.

5. Reduce the factories related with higher pollutants levels

China shut down 115 million tons of steel capacity industries to minimize its influences in 2017 and 2018. Even though they have a higher contribution level to China’s production capital.

6. Establish air quality measuring stations

The government could establish 5000 air quality measuring stations throughout the country before mid of 2017. They are open to the public and run as a nationwide network that properly understands the air quality in assigned areas.

7. Take the involvement of the government officials

Government introduces an attractive air pollution reduction-based incentive and promotion system to officials through environmental audits and economic performances.

This system has been spread through Provincial and local officials’ plans also.

Resource- Air Quality Life Index