ENVIRONMENT
Beijing's battle to clear the air
How the city's air pollution problems stack up to those of other world cities
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 | 10:23 AM ET
CBC News
A billboard blocks the view of a construction site against the backdrop of a polluted skyline in Beijing, May 2. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press) Organizers of the Beijing Summer Games have another, unofficial Olympic motto as they try to combat air pollution in the days before the opening ceremony: cleaner, fresher, healthier.
It's a massive job for the city, cited as the world's 13th-most polluted in one measure of air pollution. Cars have been taken off the roads, factories shut and construction projects halted, all in the name of clearing the air.
A great deal of progress has been reported. Beijing's air quality monitoring program noted a drop in pollution levels in recent months. There were 12 more "blue sky" days (where the air quality is fair or better) in the first half of the year than in the same period in 2007, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
A 2006 report from a United Nations environmental agency found levels of many pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, had dropped consistently in previous years. It praised China's efforts to clear the air and noted that levels of many pollutants dipped in the summer months — good news for officials promising an easy-breathing event.
But the report, which relied heavily on Chinese government statistics, noted that there were "legitimate concerns" about pollution in Beijing.
And less than two weeks before the opening ceremonies, hazy, grey conditions were reported over the city.
That blue skies are proving difficult to maintain should not be a surprise given the severity of the problem Olympic organizers have been trying to overcome.
An economic boom fueled by coal-powered industries and citizens' deepening love affair with automobiles are often blamed for Beijing's air woes. Geography also does the city no favours.
"The mountain ranges that surround Beijing block air circulation and prevent the dispersion of pollutants," said the 2006 UN report.
When winds do blow away the smog, the city risks being inundated with pollutants blowing in from factories in China's other industrial cities. In the spring, dust storms can blanket the city with sand blown in from encroaching deserts about 250 kilometres away.
A World Bank survey released in 2007 found that annual measurements in Beijing for three elements that contribute to the toxic soup known as smog — airborne particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide — were well above guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
Noting that pollution levels vary widely by the day and location of measurement, the World Bank report used numbers from 1995 to 2004 to come up with a snapshot of air quality in the world's cities.
Map: Air pollutant levels in selected world cities
Click on a red dot above to see the city's pollution levels. Source: World Bank, 2007 World Development Indicators
