Nearly 75 per cent of China’s big cities fail to meet air quality standards

Nearly 75 per cent of the mainland’s big cities failed to meet air quality standards last month, the environment ministry said on Monday, an improvement over the same month last year, as Beijing continues to “wage war on pollution”.

Nineteen cities met air quality standards every day, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement on its website, compared to five at the same time last year.

Air quality in Beijing was subpar on almost 60 per cent of the days in June and saw levels of PM2.5, particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers that can penetrate deep into the lungs, rise 11 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The capital also suffered from worsening ozone pollution, which has overtaken PM2.5 as the biggest source of air pollution on very polluted days, according to the statement.

Hebei  province still had seven cities listed in the country’s 10 most polluted cities in June, with Tangshan, a heavily industrialised city, recording the worst level of air pollution, although the province has promised various measures to tackle polluters.

Cities in the Yangtze River Delta experienced no days where pollution exceeded the official standard for safe levels, and PM2.5 levels had dropped by 44.per cent compared to a year earlier.

Amid growing public disquiet about smog and other environmental risks, the mainland said last year it would declare war on pollution and it has started to eliminate substandard industrial capacity and reduce coal 8consumption.