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“Extraordinary progress” – Beijing meets air pollution goals after coal crackdown

Nine years after toxic smog in China’s capital sparked widespread protest, climate advocates are hailing “extraordinary progress” in Beijing’s fight against air pollution.

The city authorities declared on Tuesday they had fully met all their air quality targets for the first time in 2021 – almost a decade earlier than experts expected. This followed measures to curb coal smoke from heavy industry and home heating.

Between 2013 and 2021, they claimed to have reduced the weight of dangerous particles (PM2.5) in the air by 63% to 33 micrograms. The official figures are in line with those recorded from the US embassy in Beijing and progress reported by the UN Environment Programme. While a huge improvement, the average pollution level is still more than double the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of 15 micrograms.

David Vance Wagner was the US climate envoy’s China lead under president Barack Obama. He tweeted: “Incredible… Extraordinary progress that was almost unimaginable 10 years ago.”

Greenpeace East Asia’s political adviser Li Shuo told Climate Home News: “Back in 2013 [when particularly severe air pollution sparked protests], the current progress is what we thought could only be possible around 2030.”

While Beijing has been attempting to reduce air pollution since before the 2008 Olympics, the issue shot up the political agenda in the winter of 2012/2013 when the PM2.5 level spiked to 993 micrograms/m3.

At the time there were media reports of children playing sport in domes, international companies handing out masks to foreign employees and elite golfers wearing masks at a televised competition in Beijing.

Lauri Myllyvirta, director of the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air said: “There was an outpouring of public concern and anger. It was the golden period of Chinese social media expression [before censorship intensified] and it was just everywhere. It was really the main topic of conversation.”

He added that the pressure on the government was greater because Beijing’s middle and upper class, including the decision-makers themselves, were affected.