Despite some improvement in Beijing’s air over the past year, readings of unsafe particles Tuesday were as high as a dozen times the safe level, in what has become an embarrassment for a government that has made a priority of cleaning up the legacy of pollution left from years of full-tilt economic growth.
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China, which is the world’s worst polluter, announced a series of decisions to improve air quality amid the climate change talks in Paris, which is being attended by president Xi Jinping.
Most of China’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating, which spikes when demand peaks in winter and is the main cause of smog. In 2013, it released an air action plan which set a target of bringing down average PM 2.5 concentrations to moderate levels by 2017.
“Schools will be advised to close, while companies may adopt a flexible schedule under a red alert, which also bans activity at construction sites, transport of materials and waste, as well as firecrackers and outdoor barbecues”, a Beijing government spokesperson said.
Parents have been left in hard positions.
The school would be closed all week, he added.
The Chinese government has issued an orange alert for the first time this year.
Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection warned that severe pollution would cloak the Chinese capital for several days, starting Tuesday morning. After days of drying and exposure to fire, the final product is ready. The so-called Red Alert was issued on Monday as Beijing’s air-quality index crept above 300 out of 500 for the third consecutive day. New research on the health impacts of outdoor air pollution suggests that smog is responsible for more than 3 million premature deaths around the world each year and that this number could double by 2050.
“I feel like I’m engaged in chemical warfare”, one commuter said on social media. “The air in our office is totally “poison gas”,” said one poster on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.
Some residents have questioned why the unprecedented red alert level was not issued then.
In an interview with Mashable on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was a principal player in engaging with China on climate change, said the pollution woes in China’s cities is a primary driver of action there.
A woman uses a scarf to cover her face from pollutants as they walk along a street on a polluted day in Beijing, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015.
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A grey soupy haze subsumed Beijing’s unique landmarks, and convenience stores did brisker-than-usual business selling air-filtering masks as residents sought to spend as little time outdoors as possible.
