China embark on reduction and prevention of air pollutants

SEEPHEEPHE MAHAO

BEIJING: The China Ministry of Ecology and Environment tabled its achievements,  countermeasures and upcoming action plan on reducing air pollutants in the country. An atmospheric environment director told a panel of international reporters on Wednesday this week.

Liu Bingjiang, the Chief Engineer at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, says China’s third phase plan focuses on transportation consuming fossil fuels and the huge consumption of coal which bring teeny pollutants emissions.

“Over 10 years we had an action plan to keep the sky blue and we increased energy consumption to clean energy through installation of hydropower, photovoltaic and wind energy”. Addressing air pollution has alrady become one of major driving force to also push electricity vehicles forward, particularly for buses, taxis, garbage trucks, post vans and so on, said Liu.

In 2013, China’s GDP grew by 67 percent but the PM2.5 concentration dropped by 57 percent which was hailed by United Nations as “Beijing Miracle” , (PM2.5 is a key indicator for air quality and 2.5 is the amount).

The coal consumption decreased by13.4 and 9.4 percent in 2015 and 2020 respectively when China put an end to over 400 000 coal boilers which were replaced by clean energy. This initiative saw a decrease from 30 million tons of coal to 1million tons in Beijing. “In winter people used to inhale highly polluted air but now is a different story altogether as most coal boilers are phased out by electricity”, he added.

With all these efforts to keep the sky clear and working tirelessly to protect and keep the atmosphere breathable, China is still six times above the standards of  World Health Organisation (WHO). “We are addressing this critical issue and we experience this state during the cold season, there are measures in place on our five year plan to combat the matter. The feasibility studies have been conducted and concluded and we believe it will be a success”. He said.