| Smoke belches from a chimney stack in downtown Qingdao, in the eastern province of Shandong. |
| Photo: EPA |
China
Mainland cities struggle to meet clean-air standards
China orders more accurate air-quality measure
Bangkok Post – 29 Feb 2012
China’s cabinet ordered on Wednesday new air-quality standards to measure the most dangerous form of particulate matter, following a public outcry over worsening air pollution.
A couple look across the Hong Kong skyline shrouded by smog, 2011. China’s cabinet ordered new air-quality standards to measure the most dangerous form of particulate matter, following a public outcry over worsening air pollution.
The State Council told 31 major regional capitals including Beijing and Shanghai to begin monitoring PM2.5 particulate, or fine particles measuring 2.5 microns in diameter, this year, the cabinet said on its website.
The new measure — which had been demanded by environmental campaigners — would be compulsory for 113 more cities in 2013, it said.
Authorities came under huge pressure to change the system last year after local governments routinely reported “slight pollution” when thick smog blanketed whole regions.
The new system could give a more accurate reflection of the true nature of pollution in China, activists say.
But the cabinet did not publish the indices on how the readings of the new standards would be interpreted. It also did not say when this year Beijing and Shanghai would adopt the new measure.
The state-run China Daily reported that if PM2.5 were used as China’s main standard, only 20 percent of Chinese cities would be rated as having satisfactory air quality, against the current 80 percent.
Most Chinese cities now base their air-quality information on particles of 10 micrometers or larger, known as PM10, and do not take into account the smaller particulates that experts say are most harmful to human health.
“Our nation’s pollution emissions are rather large, the air pollution problem in some regions remains prominent and the state of air pollution serious,” the cabinet said when announcing the new standard.
“We need more determination, higher standards and stronger measures to fully strengthen overall air pollution prevention and advance continued improvements in air quality.”
The meeting also called for the removal of outdated and polluting industrial technology, as well as pollution control improvements in major industries such as energy, steel, building materials and chemicals.
A doubling of coal consumption over the last decade and booming auto sales that have made China the world’s biggest car market have made air quality in China among the worst in the world, according to international organisations such as the United Nations.
Wang Qiuxia, an air pollution expert with Chinese group GreenBeagle, said last month that adopting new air-quality standards would not have an immediate impact on pollution.
“According to some assessments it will take 20 years before we see an improvement in Beijing’s air quality, provided that proper measures are adopted,” Wang told AFP.
PM2.5 readings vital for political careers|Society|chinadaily.com.cn Edward Yau take note !
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/17/content_14634581.htm
The reading on PM2.5, an air quality gauge monitoring particles 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, will help determine the promotion or demotion of leading officials in Beijing, the Beijing News reported on Friday, citing a municipal opinion on strengthening environmental protection.
According to the opinion issued by the Beijing municipality on Feb 16, the main indexes gauging environmental quality, including PM2.5, will be brought into the assessment of leading officials’ performance.
If these indexes fail to meet standards, the officials will get a negative assessment, which means “no” for any promotion.
The opinion also said the city’s work to control air pollution will focus on reducing the density of PM2.5.
Air pollution costing China dearly
SCMP – 16 Feb 2012
China’s worsening air pollution, after decades of unbridled economic growth, cost the country US$112 billion in 2005 in lost economic productivity, a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found.
The figure, which also took into account people’s lost leisure time because of illness or death, was US$22 billion in 1975, according to researchers at the MIT Joint Programme on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
The study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, measured the harmful effects of two air pollutants: ozone and particulates, which can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
“The results clearly indicate that ozone and particulate matter have substantially impacted the Chinese economy over the past 30 years,” one of the researchers, Noelle Selin, an assistant professor of engineering systems and atmospheric chemistry at MIT, said.
Ground-level ozone is produced by chemical plants, gasoline pumps, paint, power plants, motor vehicles and industrial boilers. Inhaling it can result in inflammation of the airways, coughing, throat irritation, discomfort, chest tightness, wheezing and shortness of breath.
Past studies have shown that high daily ozone concentrations are accompanied by increased asthma attacks, hospital admissions, mortality and other markers of disease.
Particulates – spewed out by power plants, industries and automobiles – are microscopic solids and droplets so tiny they penetrate deep into the lungs and can even get into the bloodstream.
Lengthy exposure can result in coughing, breathing difficulties, impaired lung function, irregular heartbeat and premature death in people with heart or lung disease.
The researchers made their calculations using atmospheric modelling tools and global economic modelling, which were useful in assessing the impact of ozone, which China started monitoring only recently. This methodology allowed them to simulate historical ozone levels.
The findings show the problem was even worse than thought, said Kelly Sims Gallagher, an associate professor of energy and environmental policy at Massachusetts-based Tufts University’s Fletcher School, who was not involved in the study.
“This important study confirms earlier estimates of major damages to the Chinese economy from air pollution, and in fact, finds that the damages are even greater than previously thought,” Gallagher said.
China is a large emitter of mercury, carbon dioxide and other pollutants. In the 1980s, China’s particulate concentrations were 10 to 16 times higher than the World Health Organisation’s annual guidelines, the researchers said.
Even after significant improvements by 2005, the concentrations were five times higher than what is considered safe.
Chinese authorities are aware of the devastating effects of the degradation to the environment and are taking steps to tackle it.
This month, authorities announced plans to reduce air pollution by 15 per cent in the capital, Beijing, by 2015, and 30 per cent by 2020 through phasing out old cars, relocating factories and planting new forests.
Beijing prioritizes PM2.5 monitoring network
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/06/content_14547351.htm
China Daily
BEIJING – Beijing municipal government said the construction of the PM2.5 monitoring network is a priority for serving the public in 2012.
To further improve the air quality, Beijing will make efforts to upgrade its environmental monitoring ability by setting up the PM2.5 monitoring network and start the air pollution control plan, according to a statement released by the municipal government Monday.
The PM2.5 gauge is stricter than Beijing’s previous standard of PM10, as it monitors “fine” particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter.
Late last year, environmental authorities in Beijing and other cities faced a flurry of criticism from the public regarding air quality, which was mainly focused on whether PM2.5 should be used to measure air quality.
On January 26, Beijing’s environmental authority launched the much-anticipated PM2.5 measurement of air quality to provide more exact air-quality monitoring results.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Pollution costing China dear: Report
Updated: 2012-02-04 09:58
By Zheng Xin (China Daily)
BEIJING – China is paying an increasing price for pollution brought about by economic development, says a report by the country’s environmental protection academy.
The cost of environmental and ecological damage to the country soared to almost 1.4 trillion yuan ($222 billion) in 2009, an increase of 9.2 percent on the previous year. China spent 3.8 percent of that year’s GDP to clean up the environment, according to the statistics in the recently released China Green National Accounting Study Report 2009.
“The damage to the environment not only results in health problems, but in financial loss as well,” said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-government organization protection agency based in the capital.
“It’s a vicious circle if we continue to strive for economic prosperity at the cost of huge energy consumption and environmental pollution, and it’s time we wake up and curb the trend,” Ma said.
The average cost of China’s resources output is $320 to $350 per ton, far below that of developed economies, which is between $2,500 to $3,500 per ton, and it is still decreasing, according to the report conducted by the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, an institution of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
“This means we are consuming about 10 times more energy than the developed economies for the same amount,” said Ma.
This situation is especially true in the central and western regions of China, where the economy is relatively underdeveloped, says the report.
Also, many local governments, such as those in North China’s Hebei province, that seek a booming economy, are attracting investment home and abroad, at the cost of the environment.
“The pollution produced by companies, especially those in the steel, smelting, cement and chemical industries, is far beyond those cities’ capacity to control,” said Ma. “It’s irresponsible. We enjoy the temporary prosperity and leave the burden to our next generation.”
However, compared with the less economically developed areas, cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, and regions in the Pearl River Delta are in better position.
Despite the government making efforts in the past few years to find a balanced solution, it still has a long and hard task ahead, says the report.
“I’m glad to see the government is taking action,” said Ma. “But to solve the problem, we should double the effort.”
As economic globalization expands, most governments in China make economic development a priority and are becoming hostage to the heavy-pollution industries.
Ma is calling for the government to toughen laws and regulations on environmental protection and impose charges as soon as possible.
“The resources are too cheap here,” said Ma.
The report also showed that carbon dioxide emissions in China had more than doubled from 3.5 billion tons in 2000 to 7.2 billion tons in 2009, making China the biggest producer of carbon dioxide worldwide.
It is the third time the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning has issued the report, also known as the Green GDP National Accounting Study, since 2006.
“It’s a good thing the public is being informed of how much money the government has allocated to tackle environmental pollution while developing its economy,” said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.
Du said the capital is considering releasing the local Green GDP in future.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2012-02/04/content_14537149.htm
Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages
This multi-year, multi-sector study estimates the physical and economic cost of air and water pollution in China as reflected in the
Building upon willingness-to-pay surveys for reducing health risks from pollution among households in Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities, the study finds that the health costs of air and water pollution in China amount to about 4.3 percent of its GDP. By adding the non-health impacts of pollution, which are estimated to be about 1.5 percent of GDP, the total cost of air and water pollution in China is about 5.8 percent of GDP. The burden of both air and water pollution is not distributed evenly across the country. For example, China’s poor are disproportionately affected by the environmental health burden and only six provinces bear 50 percent of the effects of acid rain in the country. |
China quietly shelves new diesel emission standards
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/01/china-shelves-plan-diesel-emissions
The government has quietly postponed plans to clean the fumes from truck and bus exhaust pipes
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway in China’s Hebei province. Photograph: Alexander F. Yuan/AP
It ought to have been a centrepiece of China‘s efforts to reduce smog, but the government has quietly postponed plans to clean the fumes from truck and bus exhaust pipes.
The 18-month delay of new diesel emission standards, which was announced this month, runs contrary to the authorities’ promises to tighten controls on air pollution.
Environmental scientists say the move shows public health concerns remain far less of a priority for China’s leaders than the economic interests of state-owned petrol companies, PetroChina and Sinopec.
It was not supposed to be this way. China is trying to shake the notoriously filthy hazes that envelop many of its cities and result in hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year.
After years of obfuscation and inaction, the government has taken a series of high-profile steps recently to show that it is serious about addressing the problem.
Last year, state planners announced a new goal to reduce emissions of Nitrogen Oxides by 10%. Last month, Beijing began releasing hourly data on fine particulates, known as PM2.5, that cause smog and can enter the bloodstream.
But even as it announced ambitious new targets and improved transparency, the central government has repeatedly delayed one of the most important policies for clearing the air.
The China IV Standard for diesel emissions was issued in 2005 and was originally supposed to have been introduced nationwide on 1 January 2011. Similar to the Euro IV Standard, it would force truck manufacturers to install cleaner engines. But to be effective, it requires petrol stations to sell higher-grade fuel with lower levels of sulphur, which is currently not the case.
This is crucial because traffic – particularly heavy trucks that burn diesel – is increasingly more significant than coal burning as a source of air pollution. Studies suggest vehicle exhaust pipes contribute more than 70% of the nitrogen oxides in downtown Beijing and are the dominant source of roadside PM2.5 levels – and the biggest threat to health.
But it has proved difficult for the relatively weak environment ministry to impose the extra costs on the state’s biggest petrol companies, which have an equal political rank and considerably greater lobbying resources.
The oil firms are technically capable of improving the fuel quality – as they have shown in Beijing, which has higher standards than elsewhere – but they are reluctant to bear the costs. In other countries these would be passed on to drivers, but in China, pump prices are determined by the government rather than the market.
Last year, the government announced a one-year delay in introducing the tighter controls. In January this year, that was further extended to July 2013.
To the frustration of many of those involved in drafting the new controls, there appeared to be no fresh pressure from the ministry to overcome the logjam. The notice posted online simply stated the problem – “The current supply of diesel in China is still incapable of meeting the China IV standard” – rather than indicating how it might be overcome in the next 18 months.
Without the new rules, environment officials lack a vital tool for achieving pollution reduction targets. Truck and bus makers and fleet operators also have a weaker impetus to offset the impact of this setback.
Michael Walsh, who chairs the International Council on Clean Transportation, which has been working with the environment ministry for several years on the project, said the delay threatened the effort that China has made in dealing with air pollution.
“The irresponsible failure of the oil industry to respond to the serious environmental problems by providing the necessary low sulfur fuels is seriously hampering further progress especially with diesel trucks and buses, jeopardising public health and undercutting the government’s efforts to substantially reduce nitrogen oxide emissions as called for in the 12th five year plan.”
Walsh, a winner of the government’s “friendship award” last year, said the government now has to work harder to ensure the policy is next year.
• Additional research by Cecily Huang
Beijing to set up PM2.5 monitoring stations
China Daily – Feb 1, 2012
By Zheng Xin (chinadaily.com.cn)
BEIJING– The capital will set up more than 30 fine particulate pollutant monitoring stations to inform the public of the air quality by the end of this year, according to the city’s environmental protection bureau.
Six of the more than 30 PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) monitoring stations will be set up soon in both downtown as well as surrounding suburbs, based on existing facilities, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on Feb 1.
Yu Jianhua, director of the air pollution control division of the bureau, said the bureau would carefully choose the locations of the stations, in order to represent the city’s air condition comprehensively and objectively. “The stations will be set up through all 16 districts and counties in the city,” said Yu.
Many residents are concerned with where the stations will be located and whether they can accurately reflect the city’s air quality. “Hopefully the stations will not be located close to any water reservoirs or forest park,” said Wang Yu, 26, a Beijing resident. “That would simply be a waste of money for the tax payers.”
Some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on environmental protection also appealed to the government to set up stations where air quality can be provided.
“The monitoring station will be nothing but a decoration if it cannot reflect objectively an area’s air pollution and contamination,” said Wang Qiuxia, a researcher at Green Beagle, an environmental protection NGO based in Beijing.
The bureau said the capital would place the stations in accordance with the general international practice. “The station should be located selectively, neither around the most clean nor polluted areas,” said Yu.
Yu said that according to the national standard, the location should be 50 meters away from the pollution source, including automobile exhaust by the roadside.
The US embassy’s rooftop air quality monitor is only 15 meters from the road, which might detect a higher figure of Air Pollution Index, Yu said.
The bureau said it plans to purchase facilities from home and abroad in the near future and step up the training of inspection personnel.
The government plans to add another 200,000 mu (3,3000 acres)of forest planting in 2012, mainly in urban areas, freeways and arterial roads, to improve the capital’s air quality and reach the stricter standard of PM2.5 concentration laid down by the Ministry of Environmental Protection at the end of last year.
Forest planting, together with better oil quality and scrapping old and polluting automobiles, would greatly help improve the city’s air quality, said the bureau.
According to the ministry’s new standard, which is to be adopted nationwide by 2016, the average yearly ceiling for PM2.5, which is for the first time included as a detected pollutant, is set at 35 micrograms per cubic meter, while the daily limit is at 75.
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