Beijing Air Quality Measures Continued

Beijing – the capital city of China, and the location for the 2008 Olympic Games – will carry on imposing air quality measures for a further year, it emerged on April 6th.

Prior to the 2008 Olympics, restrictions on the amount of traffic permitted to pass through Beijing were put in place. The updated measure will see this restriction continued on into 2010 – with 20 per cent of the 3.6 million private motor cars present in Beijing banned from using the city’s road network, and the same for 33 per cent of governmental vehicles.

Through carrying on with these measures, the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau anticipates that emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases will be slimmed down by 375 tonnes per daily – equating to ten per cent. An additional measure targeting motor vehicles with an especially high emission output, along with trucks, will also be extended and, again, will hopefully generate similar savings.

Beijing Olympics Pollution

During the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, pollution reducing measures were established, with cars possessing even or odd numbers only permitted to get out and about on every other day. Simultaneously, home gas conversions were carried out en masse, and much of Beijing’s industry was either closed down on a temporary basis, or individual operations moved out of the city, short-term.

Chinese state media figures detail how – these measures having been adopted – Beijing’s August 2008 pollution output was the lowest it had been during any time over the last ten years. While private motorists were critical of them, as far as the Chinese government is concerned, the Beijing traffic restrictions bought success – with air quality improved and congestion eased, to boot.

Chinese news agency Xinhua recently wrote that the first three months of 2009 had witnessed over 24 more “blue sky days” than had been case for January-March 1999, 2000, 2001 and every subsequent year up until now.

What couldn’t be detailed, though, was the exact source of this much cleaner air – whether it could be attributed to the traffic restrictions, the introduction of air-cleaning technology, or to reduced industrial activity as a result of the global economic decline.

Since the mid-1980s, the Beijing skyline has been characterised by the presence of smog – contributory factors being the 1,000 more private motor vehicles taking to the road each day and heightened industrial production, to name but two.

The city has 17 million residents, many of which – in connection with the air pollution data published by the government each day - are advised to stay indoors. And, while the number of “blue sky days” is reportedly on the up, these are still substantially over acceptable pollution levels tabulated by the WHO (World Health Organisation).