In the News
September 5, 2023
Ten years ago, China’s capital was often covered in dense yellow and gray smog, so thick it shrouded nearly everything from view.
People locked their windows, donned face masks and cranked air purifiers on high to escape what became known as Beijing’s “air-pocalypse.”
The air quality was so bad, and became so globally infamous, that Chinese leaders launched a multibillion-dollar “war against pollution.”
A decade on, those efforts are paying dividends. China’s pollution levels in 2021 had fallen 42% from 2013, according to a new report released Tuesday, making it a rare success story in the region, where pollution is getting worse in some parts, including South Asia.
The annual Air Quality Life Index report, produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, praised China’s “staggering success in combating pollution.”
Pollution levels globally have fallen slightly from 2013 to 2021 – which the report said was “entirely due to China’s progress.” Without China’s improvements, the world’s average pollution would have risen instead.
The improvement means the average Chinese citizen’s lifespan is now 2.2 years longer, the report said.
Chinese cities used to dominate global rankings of the world’s worst air quality; while some are still on those lists, in many cases they have been overtaken by cities in South Asia and the Middle East.
In 2021, Beijing recorded its best monthly air quality since records began in 2013. “The ‘Beijing blue’ has gradually become our new normal,” said the country’s environment minister at the time, according to state media.
But, the report warned, there is still work to do as China remains the world’s 13th most polluted country. And Beijing’s particulate pollution – the tiny but highly dangerous pollutants that can evade the human body’s usual defenses – is still 40% higher than in the most polluted county in the United States.
While China’s particulate pollution levels are within its national standards, they “significantly exceed” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines, the report said.
However, the progress made in China shows that change is possible, if the government and its people are willing and able to put in the work.