SinoNet: Fw: MCLC: Beijing struggles to clean air

[Jacqueline Winter]

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From: Kirk Denton <denton.2 at osu.edu>
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Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2006 11:16:38 PM
Subject: MCLC: Beijing struggles to clean air

MCLC LIST
From: henri day (mhenriday at gmail.com)
Subject: Beijing struggles to clean air
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Source: Asia Times (2/11/06):
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HB11Cb01.html
 
Beijing struggles to clean air by 2008
By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING - With just two years left before the 2008 Summer Olympics, China's
capital is struggling to live up to its pledge of hosting a "green games"
while also meeting the demands of its increasingly affluent residents and
their consumerist ways.

Three years ago, the Chinese capital unveiled its master plan for hosting
the 2008 Olympics, with the city elders speaking of a commitment to hold the
best Games ever. They promised an event taking place in spectacular venues
spread across a green city and accessible by a new public transport system.
They also pledged to clean up the notorious pollution smothering the city
and meet the World Health Organization's average ambient-air-quality
standards. By 2008, the city would have blue skies, or be pollution-free,
for 80% of the year, or so the promises said.

But Beijing's goal of becoming a pollution-free city is being undermined by
rapid economic growth that is outstripping numerous measures put in place to
improve the capital's air quality. In fact, the city's claim to being
environment-friendly has suffered one blow after another.

After placing fourth in 2004's ranking of China's most livable cities,
Beijing tumbled to No 15 in 2005 according to an annual survey conducted by
the Horizon Group, an independent, Beijing-based research company that
evaluated traffic conditions, environment and air quality, among other
criteria for quality of life.

In a report issued by the European Satellite Agency last September, Beijing
and its environs in northeastern China were named as having the world's
highest levels of nitrogen dioxide - a key smog gas originating from power
plants, heavy industry and vehicle emissions. Levels of this gas, which can
cause fatal lung damage over time, were found to have increased by some 50%
in China's air since 1996, and the trend is rising.

In early November, as Beijing's air-pollution index soared, the city's
Environmental Protection Agency issued a rare warning to residents to stay
home. Suspended inhalable particles had reached a dangerous 300 micrograms
per cubic meter - meaning that outdoor activities had become hazardous to
human health. November also marked the beginning of the coal-burning season,
when pollution levels peak in the capital. As coal-powered heating plants
were fired up for the winter, they released a toxic buildup that had settled
in their inactive pipes.

But the trend of bad environmental news showed no signs of letting up in the
following months either. In January, Beijing dwellers had only 11 blue-sky
days - the least for the month in the past six years, according to the
city's Environmental Protection Agency. Ironically, it was six years ago
that Beijing launched its "Defending the Blue Sky" campaign. Alarmed that in
1998 the city saw only 100 days of blue sky, Beijing leaders deployed
various strategies to improve the dire state of capital's air quality.

Since 2000, city leaders have exiled more than 1,000 heavy industrial and
power-generation plants outside of the city proper. Leaded motor fuel was
banned and phased out. The capital's reliance on dirty coal for energy has
been reduced by the gradual introduction of natural gas for domestic and
industrial use, as well as processed coal with reduced sulfur emissions.
Last year, some 4,000 old, polluting buses and 30,000 cabs were removed from
service and replaced with vehicles meeting new, tougher standards for
pollution controls.

Yet despite all efforts to reduce industrial pollution, the city's air
remains filthy. One culprit identified by the media and environmentalists is
the large number of construction sites in Beijing. In the rush to transform
itself into a modern cosmopolitan city, the capital has demolished large
swaths of ancient dwellings and unleashed an unprecedented building boom.
Each year, the city sees more than 100 million square meters of construction
sites breaking ground.

In their desire to clean up the air before the 2008 Olympics, city leaders
have declared that all construction should cease by the end of this year,
which has put additional pressure on builders to work around the clock.
Experts estimate that dust stirred up by the relentless construction in the
capital contributes some 20-30% of the suspended particulates in the air. A
bigger proportion, some 40%, is caused by heavy traffic and the growing
number of cars in the city.

Although new vehicle-emissions regulations, expected to be fully implemented
by 2010, are on a par with European Union automotive standards, the
reduction in exhaust per vehicle cannot compensate for the exceptional rate
of growth in the number of cars. A 15-year-old government policy to promote
the growth of China's domestic car industry has spurred auto ownership to
staggering levels. China's roads are expected to be clogged with 130 million
vehicles in 2020, by which time the country will have surpassed the United
States in total car ownership.

Nowhere is this more visible than in the national capital. The number of
vehicles on Beijing roads soared by nearly 1,000 a day in 2005 for a total
of nearly 2.6 million, Liu Xiaoming of the Beijing government's
transportation committee told the press last month. Moreover, some 40% of
households in this city of 14 million people hope to buy a car in the coming
five years, researchers from Beijing University's China Center for Economic
Research announced recently.

The environmental consequences of such rapid growth have not been lost on
the government. If the projected increases in car ownership in Beijing (and
China) are realized in the coming years, the environmental impact will be
felt not only on the clogged streets but also in global emissions of carbon
dioxide. 

But Beijing leaders are only too aware that thwarting the growing
aspirations of the city's consumerist middle-class residents runs the risk
of social upheaval. In his policy speech last month, Mayor Wang Qishan
admitted that Beijing was finding it difficult to balance economic growth
with environmental protection. "There are serious problems in balancing the
need for economic and social development on the one hand, and issues of
resource conservation and environmental protection on the other," Wang said.
Rather than limit the numbers of cars purchased, the government is seeking
to improve the city's public transport and provide tax incentives for
consumers to purchase cars with small engines.

Liu Xiaoming has defended the capital's model of development, saying that
the rise in car ownership and the congested traffic were natural byproducts
of rapid economic development.

"Major cities around the world have spent more than a decade or two trying
to solve this problem," he said.

(Inter Press Service)