The nation is willing to spend as much money as needed in its fight against air pollution, Premier Li Keqiang said. In an executive meeting of the State Council on Wednesday, Li spoke about how finding a solution to smog had become an “urgent” matter for people’s health and the quality of their lives. “Smog has indeed become a matter of concern for everyone,” he said. “We often say that money needs to be spent on crucial things, and this is one of the issues most people eagerly want to be resolved. We will spend however much money needs to be spent.” In the first three months of the year, the level of PM2.5 particles in Beijing – near the steel factories of Hebei province – spiked by almost 27 per cent compared to last year. After announcing a special research fund to counter air pollution in March, Li said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Environmental Protection would lead research from across multiple sectors to identify the causes of smog and to find solutions. Recognising the widespread air quality problems, the Ministry of Finance raised the budget for curbing air pollution by 250 per cent this year, to 40 million yuan (HK$45 million), according to the ministry’s website. China’s smog inspectors held captive during checks on polluting factory Dong Liansai, a Greenpeace spokesman, said China had been “doubling down on its efforts” to achieve its year-end PM2.5 reduction targets. The research fund it was establishing showed the central government’s “clear support and emphasis” in tackling air pollution. But the nation still needed to accelerate efforts to phase out coal in order to improve air quality, he said. The mainland’s rapid urbanisation and accelerated industrial output have come at the expense of its once-blue skies. Smog has become notoriously commonplace, sparking rising public discontent. Erik Velasco, a Singapore-based climate scientist affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, welcomed the news about the push to invest more in air pollution research. He said the nation had been slow to address smog, but had moved more quickly in recent years to identify problems with its major emission sources: industrial activity, power plants and cars. Warmer world is making China’s smog woes even worse “The Chinese government already [took] its first step, recognising that air pollution is a serious problem. If the government comes out with environmental policies without scientific support, they will not work.” Amos Tai, an assistant professor of climate science at Chinese University, said the central government had been “very active” in environmental regulation, but that many of the country’s heavily polluting industries had still failed inspections. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, 2,808 companies were recently found to be violating environmental rules. Tai said more research was needed to address smog formation, related meteorological factors and cutting back on the use of fossil fuels, but that the best solution was to decrease industrial emissions. “You cannot just say ‘we can do nothing about emissions because we just need to grow, we just need to develop, lets clean it up afterwards’,” he said.
