Beijing ordered hundreds of factories to shut and allowed children to skip school as choking smog reached over 25 times safe levels on Tuesday, casting a cloud over China’s participation in Paris climate talks.
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“Every winter, because we need to stay warm, we have to breathe in toxic gases; it’s frightful”, Xu said.
Xi is one of roughly 150 world leaders who’ve gathered in Paris to try to strike a global deal to start seriously addressing the climate crisis, the main source of which is the burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
A woman wearing a mask to protect herself from pollutants walks past a construction site on a heavily polluted day in Beijing, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.
But in a report this month, Greenpeace East Asia found that China had granted environmental permits to 155 coal-fired power plants during the first nine months of this year, or about four per week.
Leaders have tightened emissions standards and are investing in solar, wind and other renewable energy as part of a “war” on pollution.
While this reading hasn’t been confirmed elsewhere, several monitoring sites downtown recorded levels of more than 600 micrograms per cubic meter, while in the Beijing suburbs, readings were as high as 976 micrograms.
Heavy smog in Beijing is affecting the health of residents of the city as well as te city’s economy output. Meanwhile, local environmental watchdogs noted that the ongoing smog was the severest pollution seen so far this year in the capital city.
However, the government has not raised any alarm over the current air quality and no advisories have been issued to the public.
More than 2,000 factories in polluting industries have been ordered to suspend work, and schools have been ordered to halt all outdoor activities. A primary school in the city’s Xicheng district sent a message to parents that classes were canceled Tuesday.
An unfortunate combination of weather conditions has also helped trap pollutants, according to meteorologists – cold air closer to the ground resulting from thawing snow reduced the mobility of airborne pollutants, officials said. Certain sections on a highway outside the capital also had to be closed on account of the lack of visibility, the Transportation Ministry said.
There have been similar readings in areas surrounding Beijing, including Tianjin Municipality and cities in Hebei Province. “I can do nothing but park my vehicle at the hotel and wait until the smog goes away”, Gao said. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported 666 micrograms per cubic meter at 8 p.m.
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Last October, runners in the Beijing marathon had to wear masks due to the high levels of pollution.
