Beijing's bid for Winter Games may turn cold

Beijing, however, cannot avoid the air quality problem during the evaluation process for candidate cities, because Zhangjiakou is only its co-host. Beijing is infamous for its poisonous smog, poor visibility and "Beijing cough", which is bad news because environmental conditions are one of the 11 important technical criteria in the selection of a city to host the Winter Games. The International Olympic Committee requires cities bidding to host the Winter Olympics to provide their environmental data, including those on carbon monoxide, PM10, PM2.5, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Going by the current state of affairs, Beijing will fail on this front.

But there are people who see Beijing's bid as an opportunity to intensify the fight against air pollution in North China. While bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing had promised to spend $12.2 billion to improve the capital's environment and ended up spending $23.4 billion for the purpose.

Before the host city for the 2022 Winter Games is selected in July 1915, Beijing has to submit an environmental plan to convince the selection committee that it is indeed capable of hosting the event. And if it wins the bid this time, more polluting industries have to drastically reduce their emissions, or be shut down or shifted, expediting the process of air pollution management in North China.

But losing the bid does not mean Beijing should take the fight against air pollution any less seriously. It's time the authorities realized the power and influence of the environment and awoke to the fact that given its current environmental state, Beijing can hardly become a truly prosperous and modern metropolis.

The author is a writer with China Daily.

Email: wangyiqing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 12/06/2013 page9)