The Chinese capital Beijing was on Friday enveloped by this year’s worst air pollution with the smog level crossing the most hazardous mark, two days after a red alert for foul weather was lifted.
Beijing woke up to very hazy morning on the Christmas Day with reading of the PM 2.5 the smallest and deadliest form of airborne particulate matter crossing 500, the maximum level on the US Embassy monitor.
The 500 reading regarded as the most hazardous, several times higher than the safe levels prescribed by World Health Organization, (WHO) and extremely dangerous to health.
Weather officials said even though Beijing lifted the red alert for severe pollution on Tuesday, the capital city will remain in haze for a few more days.
Beijing issued the second red alert for heavy pollution last week when smog levels were not so severe. The pollution level since Thursday is far worse than during the red alert.
The first ever red alert was issued early this month.
China has a four-tier warning system, with red as the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
The Beijing municipal heavy pollution emergency response headquarters issued a blue alert for heavy pollution in the city on Thursday, saying smog will hit central Beijing and southern suburbs last night.
It called on residents in these areas to take protective measures. A cold front will disperse the smog on Saturday, it added. Roughly 50 cities in northern and eastern China have issued air pollution alerts in the most recent bout of smog.
Meanwhile, China on Friday said it has shut down 17,000 polluting industries following a pollution discharge inspection of 1.41 million companies from January to September this year.
Another 28,600 firms were ordered to suspend their operations, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Friday. Among the violators, 46,800 enterprises were found to have discharged pollutants and 63,700 were involved in illegal construction projects, the ministry said. The ministry received has 73 public tip-offs about pollution lodged through the 12369 telephone hotline in September.
The industries most complained about were chemicals, metal smelting and processing and non-metallic mineral processing. In November, the ministry dispatched inspection teams to 504 enterprises across the country, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong and Xinjiang.
During the inspection, violations were found in urban treatment of dust, central heating and oil vapor recovery in petrol stations, the ministry said.
More than money: Employees in China demand cleaner office air
It’s not only about salaries, promotions and career prospects - many companies in China have found they need to offer cleaner air within their offices to lure and retain staff.
Air quality has deteriorated badly in China’s north and east, including in Beijing and Shanghai. Companies, especially multinationals, based in these cities are spending tens of thousands of dollars to install air filtration systems and real-time pollution monitoring devices in their offices.
International market research company JD Power has installed new clean air systems at its Beijing and Shanghai offices, an executive said. Auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers and British advertising firm WPP Plc are doing the same in their premises. “If a company is willing to reduce pollution inside, it shows it is responsible and will have good growth,” said Shanghai resident Yao Hui.