City targets 6% decrease in PM 2.5

Environmental authorities have, for the first time, released a target to reduce the level of PM 2.5 pollution in the capital.

By 2015, there should be a reduction of 6 percent in the level of PM 2.5 pollution (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns) in Beijing, announced the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) Wednesday, which also called for similar reductions of PM 2.5 in 13 key areas, including the Pearl Delta, Tianjin, Hebei Province and the Yangtze River Delta area.

The ministry's plan pledges an investment of 350 billion yuan ($56 billion) to construct 13,369 projects in areas like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions control and industrial smoke particulate control.

Measures will include refusing permission for new highly polluting projects in these target areas, and ensuring new industrial projects install the latest pollution emissions reduction equipment. Some high polluting factories may be forced to close.

Zhao Hualin, director of the pollution prevention and control department at the MEP, said Wednesday that PM 2.5 levels in 70 percent of China and 80 percent of the key areas outlined are not up to national standards, the Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

"Since the public cares very much about PM 2.5 pollution, we will take solving this issue as a priority," said Zhao, according to Xinhua.

The first monitoring station in Beijing to release PM 2.5 data in Chegongzhuang, Xicheng district went online in January, 2012, and now there are 35 stations citywide.

But the city has adopted a different measure of PM 2.5 standards from those of the US, noted He Xiaoxia, from Green Beagle, an e n v i r o n mental protection NGO.

"It's because our environmental situation is much too bad to meet the US standard," He said. The excuse given is often to say that as China is a developing nation, it cannot be expected to have the same standards as developed nations, she said.

China requires the maximum daily PM 2.5 level to be no greater than 75 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the MEP, while the figure for the US is 65, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Geographic differences between Beijing and the southern cities like Shanghai make PM 2.5 pollution more difficult to solve in Beijing, said He.

"Higher annual rainfall in the southern cities contributes to the diffusion of pollutants," she noted.

Ma Jun, an environmental expert with the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, said because there are so many sources of PM 2.5, the government should disclose accurate data of these emission sources.

"Take coal as an example, the number of coal-burning factories and their emission situation should be recorded because it's a severe source of PM 2.5," said Ma.

Transparency of the pollution data will be key to whether the new government pollution reduction target can be attained, said Ma, who called for greater public supervision.

"It's important to let the public know of the progress of the air pollution control. Putting projects under public supervision will avoid it just becoming an image project," said Ma.

Zhou Rong, an environmentalist working with Greenpeace, said that she feels the goal of a six percent reduction might be unattainable.

"Given the harsh fact that the average annual intensity of PM 2.5 particles in most Chinese cities always exceeds the national standards, the expectation of improving air quality by six percent is still illusive," she told the Global Times Thursday via e-mail.

In January 2012, Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau released data showing 60 percent of PM 2.5 in Beijing is from coal burning, industry and vehicles, 23 percent from dust, and 17 percent from solvents, according to China Central Television.

The average level of PM 2.5 has dropped from 100-110 micrograms per cubic meter in 2000, to an average of 70-80 micrograms per cubic meter by 2010, the report said.

According to the World Health Organization, annual average safe levels of PM 2.5 are 10 micrograms per cubic meter, and 25 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period.