Beijing takes steps to reduce pollution

Hangzhou studies capital's methods to ensure blue skies for major events

Beijing has seen a continued improvement in air quality, harvesting 107 good days in the first six months, the municipal environment authority said.

In the first half-year, the concentration of PM2.5 - fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter that is especially hazardous for human health - has been lowered to 64 micrograms per cubic meter, a year-on-year decrease of 17.9 percent, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.

The number of days with good air quality climbed to 107, an increase of 19 days year-on-year. This shows that long-term efforts to strictly control air pollution continued to alleviate smog, the bureau said.

The comprehensive measures Beijing has taken also curbed smog significantly and quickly for major events like APEC, said Liang Wenyue, deputy director of the bureau's air quality control department.

For example, residents in the capital have seen an amazing 15 consecutive days from Aug 20 to Sept 3, for the parade marking the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II. For the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, hosted in November 2014, the capital lowered PM2.5 concentrations by 30 percent from levels that would have been experienced without special restrictions, said Zhang Dawei, head of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center.

For such major events, Beijing will intensify its efforts, including reducing industrial production, suspending works at construction sites and almost halving the number of vehicles on the roads, based on the odd-and-even license plates policy. There are also joint restrictions and inspections conducted in the neighboring provinces, Liang said.

"Preparations for these major events provided us opportunities to test the effectiveness of our long-term measures and pushed forward our pollution restriction efforts," Liang said.

For example, the joint inspections on vehicle exhausts that Beijing and the neighboring four provinces and Tianjin conducted have smoothed the normal process.

Learning from Beijing's rich experience, Hangzhou has taken similar efforts to restrict air pollutants, ensuring blue skies for the G20 Leaders Summit.

Several teams of environmental authorities from Zhejiang province have visited the bureau and monitoring center in Beijing to study its methods, said Sun Feng, deputy director of the monitoring center's air quality office.

Experts in environmental protection have been invited to provide suggestions for air quality improvement measures in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

One of Beijing's experiences that he highlighted is the need to evaluate control efforts frequently, which could work for the long-term air quality improvement in Hangzhou as well.

"In addition, public support is quite important," Liang said. "Cooperation with the residents helped smooth implementation."

zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn