Toxic air: China fixed Beijing air with iron hand

The Times of India , Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Correspondent : TNN
NEW DELHI: The air Beijing was inhaling a couple of years ago was as toxic as Delhi's, but the Chinese capital had managed the crisis quickly and effectively. Experts say China's strategies were stringent and aggressive.

Beijing barred registration of diesel cars as early as 2003. It implemented China V emission standards in 2013 while India is still following BS IV norms. They have a four-level alarm system to respond to severe air pollution episodes like shutting down industries, reducing usage of private vehicles, closing schools depending on how bad the pollution levels are.

Not long ago, Beijing too went through a similar phase when there was massive criticism from the international community and expatriates had started leaving the city to avoid exposure to the toxic air. A report in Los Angeles Times published on June 20, 2014 talks about how expatriates started leaving because their children couldn't have enough physical activity outdoors or because they were falling sick and it was becoming a huge economic concern for China.

On March 21, 2014, BBC reported what prompted an American couple to decide to leave the city after working there for five years. There are similar stories of expats fleeing China during the worst air pollution episodes. But China's response to the problem was swift.

"China did go through a similar phase when there was international glare on Beijing's air pollution. There were media reports that their tourism was getting affected. When Hong Kong had high pollution levels, even offices started shifting out. But China managed to address it quite comprehensively," said a researcher who doesn't wish to be identified.

According to an analysis by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), during 2011-14, over 1.4 million vehicles older than six years were retired or replaced in Beijing. It also introduced an environmental labeling system—Yellow: Euro I gasoline, Euro III diesel; Green: Euro IV; Blue: Euro V. This also includes use of electronic tags, and embedded chips in vehicles since 2009 so that information about the vehicle can be stored and remote reading can be taken.

Vehicles without labels are illegal on Beijing's roads. It helps them identify, which vehicles could be polluting. For example, traffic restriction on yellow label vehicles began in 2003. China will eliminate yellow label vehicles in key regions by the end of 2015 and from the entire country by the end of 2017.

"India, unlike China, lacks a comprehensive clean air plan. Here, we have an AQI that does not take into account the dreadful emissions from the industrial sector and particularly the coal-fired power plants, which are responsible for more than 50% of the particulate matter emissions in the country. This is simply unacceptable. India needs to adopt a national clean air plan similar to that of China," said Aishwarya Madineni, campaigner, Greenpeace.

China also has advanced in-use vehicle emission testing system. "They (China) introduced 20,000 buses, including CNG-run ones by 2008, Metro and light railway, imposed restrictions based on odd and even number vehicles; stringent control on emissions from industry, power plants, etc," CSE's assessment said. About 20,000-30,000 polluting heavy duty trucks that ply through Beijing figure in "smoke blacklist" and are fined by authorities.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Toxic-air-China-fixed-Beijing-air-with-iron-hand/articleshow/47506823.cms
 


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