China’s capital Beijing maintained an “orange” pollution alert, the second-highest level, on Monday, closing highways, halting or suspending construction and prompting a warning to residents to stay indoors.
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Under the orange weather alert mechanism, industrial plants are required to reduce or shut down production; construction sites should stop transporting materials and waste and heavy-duty trucks are banned from the roads.
The city reported the level of tiny PM2.5 particles in the air to be more than 600 micrograms per cubic meter late yesterday afternoon. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported the level to be 625 micrograms per cubic meter at 5 p.m.
The alert level was raised on the same day that Environmental Minister Chen Jining claimed that China had already met the environmental targets for pollution reduction outlined in their 12th five-year plan six months ahead of schedule, according to Chinese new agency Xinhua. Beijing on Sunday, Nov. 29 issued its highest smog alert of the year following a…
The ministry said the number of cities affected by heavy pollution now stands at 23, however a cold front starting on Wednesday would see improvement in the situation.
Hazardous air is also affecting much of northern China including Tianjin, Hebei, Henan and Shandong.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection said “unfavourable” weather was to blame for the peak in pollution, according to Reuters. It brought back memories of the intense pollution – dubbed the “airpocalypse” – that clouded the capital in 2013 when readings approached 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter.
The worst smog of the winter has on Sunday enveloped Beijing, with air pollution levels almost 15 times the safety limit set by the World Health Organisation.
BEIJING (AP) – Schools in Beijing were ordered to keep students indoors Tuesday after record-breaking air pollution in the Chinese capital soared to up to 35 times the safety levels.
China’s president Xi Jinping is at the United Nations climate summit in Paris this week promising to help clear the air of the pollutants that help heat up the atmosphere. Air quality in more than 300 Chinese cities improved in the first three quarters from a year earlier, though average concentrations in 80 percent of the cities exceeded national standards, said Greenpeace’s Dong.
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India is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and its coal use is rising rapidly alongside economic growth.
