Price of Blue Skies
On January 3, 2018, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau announced that average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration in the capital had reached 58 micrograms per cubic meter in 2017, better than the target set by the national government. The achievement was due to a string of strict measures since the State Council vowed to cut the country's smog density by 25 percent from 2013 to 2017. To meet the goal, 28 cities in the Beijing-tianjin-hebei region were given specific requirements to control air pollution which have been inspected by 5,600 environmental inspectors in what is the biggest environmental campaign since China's Environmental Protection Law was enacted. Major polluters in the region, including the steel, glass and coal industries, were asked to phase out or cut production. The blue skies, however, have come at a price. In the winter of 2017, natural gas-fueled heating was supposed to be installed in many northern Chinese cities, leading to a regional energy shortfall. Experts cautioned that pollution control needs a gradual process and over-reliance on administrative means instead of market mechanisms is likely to be unsustainable.