Beijing pollution: Schools keep children indoors

He, however, said a substantial improvement of the environment will only be possible if pollution is reduced by a further 30 to 50 per cent. For the second straight day, the city’s official air quality index exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic metre.

Visibility fell to several hundred meters (yards), leaving buildings silhouetted in the haze.

With air pollution levels at 35 times what is considered safe, schools in Beijing have been ordered to keep their students indoors today. Coupled with traffic fumes and lack of wind, the city is at a “hazardous” level according to the U.S. embassy’s monitoring bod. Last October, runners in the Beijing marathon had to wear masks due to the high levels of pollution.

During the climate change talks Tuesday, President Obama said the agreement should include periodic reviews of countries’ emissions and place sanctions on nations that fail to meet specific targets.

Modi sought to highlight India’s green credentials in an article for the Financial Times on Monday, writing: “The instinct of our culture is to take a sustainable path to development”.

Despite being labelled by the WHO as the world’s most polluted city, there’s no protocol in Delhi for warning residents when pollution levels spike.

By Wednesday, strong cold air moving from west to east is forecast to blow away the air pollutants that have lingered in the north since Friday, said Fang Chong, chief weather forecaster of the Central Meteorological Station.

The city’s Environmental Protection Administration has been under fire for issuing and maintaining only the orange alert even though air quality was so bad that readings were off the charts.

“The air pollution is all-encompassing, and it requires both the government and individuals to shoulder the responsibility to clean up the air”, Liu said. But that’s really only half the story – coal-fired power plants are also in overdrive since last week’s wintry blast.

Shandong province issued a yellow alert on Monday morning as visibility in parts of the region dropped below 200 metres.

While air quality plummeted in Beijing, representatives of the governments of more than 190 countries, including China, were meeting in Paris for the COP21 climate talks, which began Monday.

Reducing the use of coal and promoting cleaner forms of energy are set to play a crucial role in China’s pledges to bring its climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by around the same date.