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Reuters

China’s air quality improved last year, benefiting from coronavirus-related shutdowns as well as tougher industrial controls, government data showed.
Concentrations of lung-damaging small particles known as PM2.5 in 337 cities fell an average 8.3 per cent to 33 micrograms per cubic metre over the year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
The smog-prone region that encompasses Beijing, the city of Tianjin and the province of Hebei saw average PM2.5 levels drop 10.5 per cent to 51mcg/m³, though that was still higher than the national standard of 35mcg.
The World Health Organization recommends annual mean concentrations of no more than 10mcg.
Coronavirus: air pollution improved during China’s lockdowns – and it may have reduced hospital visits
Anyang, a major steel and coal producing region in Henan province, was the worst performing city in China for the second year in a row. Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan, was the best overall performer.
Smog experts have expressed concern that some northern cities in China are at risk of falling short of their winter pollution targets after a surge in the production of steel and cement.
Data for December showed, however, that despite the production hikes, average PM2.5 concentrations fell 3.6 per cent to 53mcg/m³. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region also saw concentrations decline, down 6.2 per cent to 76mcg, with the region benefiting from windy weather.
Improvements in China’s water quality were also made last year. Some 85 per cent of surface water samples taken from nearly 2,000 sites across the country met standards for human use, up 7 percentage points over 2019.


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China’s coronavirus lockdowns give air quality a lift

Air quality improved across more than 300 cities in China thanks in part to lockdowns, the environment ministry says. Photo: Getty Images

Covid-19 lockdowns brought blue skies back to China, but don’t expect them to last

Blue skies were an unexpected upside of locking down cities and halting industrial production across China. Photo: AFP

A view of the Linjiang Avenue by the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicentre of China's novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo SEARCH "WUHAN REEMERGING" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

China’s smog-prone regions see clearer skies but pollution worse elsewhere

Hebei province – China’s most polluted region – recorded an 18 per cent drop in PM2.5 levels in the last quarter from a year earlier. Photo: Reuters

Coronavirus: Study finds lockdown may have helped cut China’s carbon emissions

A steel factory in Wuhan, Hubei province in 2017. The coronavirus-related lockdown of many Chinese cities may have helped China’s carbon emissions for the first time in three years, a study has found. Photo: Reuters

epa08214148 People walk as a thick haze of pollution engulfs Beijing, China, 13 February 2020. EPA-EFE/WU HONG

China’s capital shrouded in air pollution despite reduced emissions from coronavirus economic slowdown

A man wearing a protective mask rides a scooter in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE

A man wearing a face mask rides his bicycle along an empty street in Beijing, which has been shrouded in heavy smog this week. Photo: AFP

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Environment ministry says levels of smallest particles fell by an average of 8.3 per cent in more than 330 cities across the country in 2020
But concentrations are still three times the maximum threshold recommended by the World Health Organization



Environment ministry says levels of smallest particles fell by an average of 8.3 per cent in more than 330 cities across the country in 2020.
