Act earlier to ease smog’s grip on Beijing, scientists urge authorities
Curbs on factories and cars need to be imposed earlier to minimise effects of pollution, research team suggests
Ordering polluting factories to shut down well before smog looms would go a long way to easing the effects of choking air contamination shrouding northern China, a team of mainland scientists has found.
Beijing and surrounding regions have been engulfed in repeated waves of pollution in recent weeks, prompting the authorities to issue smog alerts, order manufacturers to halt production and impose traffic restrictions on private cars. But it has all been to little effect.
That was because the action came too late, the researchers, led by professor Wang Yuesi from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in a statement on Friday.
Much of the smog comes from heavy industry south of Beijing.
It is usually dispersed by winds from the north but when those winds abate, can be carried north to the capital by warm air from the loess plateau.