Air quality worse in January and February, says ministry

SHANGHAI: China’s air quality was markedly worse in the first two months of the year than the same period of 2016 following a series of smog outbreaks in northern China, official data published showed.

China says it is winning its “war on pollution” after strengthening legislation, beefing up its monitoring capabilities and cracking down on hundreds of polluting firms, and it said average air quality improved noticeably in 2016.

Environment Minister Chen Jining urged reporters earlier this month to focus on overall trends, which showed China was making rapid progress in its anti-pollution efforts, even though serious problems remained.

But throughout January this year, high winter coal consumption combined with “unfavourable weather conditions” to create heavy smog build-ups throughout northern China, forcing dozens of cities in the region to issue “red alerts” designed to curb industrial activity and thin traffic.

Data collected from 338 cities in the first two months of the year showed that concentrations of small breathable particles known as PM2.5, a key component of smog, rose 12.7% year on year to 71 micrograms per cubic metre, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a notice.

Ministry data also showed that average PM2.5 readings in the capital Beijing in January and February were up 69.6% from the same period of last year.

China’s cities need to bring PM2.5 readings down to 35 micrograms per cubic metre in order to meet state air quality standards. — Reuters