Beijing Suffers Worst Air Pollution As Paris Climate Talks Begin

She added: “I’m more concerned about the health of my seven-year-old kid”.

Airlines canceled more than 30 flights from Beijing and Shanghai, many to highly polluted Shaanxi province, which is a key coal producer.

Beijing’s severe pollution follows a bout of record-breaking smog in the country’s northeast last month, when PM2.5 levels reached 1,400 micrograms per cubic meter in the city of Shenyang – the highest registered so far – and 860 micrograms per cubic meter in neighboring Changchun.

Communist leaders have tightened emissions standards over the years and are increasingly investing in renewable sources of energy, but China continues to depend chiefly on coal for at least 60 percent of its power.

On Tuesday, Beijing schools were ordered to stop outdoor activities.

Beijing smog is now trending as the fourth-most real- time keyword search on the microblogging site Sina Weibo, with 220,000 searches.

On Monday, while world leaders converge in Paris for a United Nations conference on climate change, the air quality index for Beijing exceeds 500; categorized as officially “beyond index”, right above “hazardous”.

Visibility was cut to several hundred meters (yards), as buildings receded into thick smog.

For its part Beijing yesterday issued its highest smog alert of the year, upgrading it from the yellow of the past two days to orange, second only to red.

Air quality worsened on Friday and deteriorated throughout the weekend.

Urban Air lets users see current and future pollution levels across China.

The city was once listed as China’s most polluted, and despite a “low-carbon” program created to control emissions from factories seven years ago, analysts said cities like Baoding need to buckle down and target steel, cement plants – key foundations of China’s industrial economy.

Aside from stricter inspections, Beijing’s local government has also required over 2,100 major companies that contribute to the pollution to suspend their operations.

Residents in northern China have been told to stay indoors after air pollution in Beijing and neighboring regions rose to hazardous levels. Winds predicted for Wednesday are expected to clear away some of the pollution, but until then, residents are being warned to stay inside.

“With this level of pollution, government should really consider halting all classes at middle and primary schools”, Ma Jun, the Beijing-based founder and director of Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, said by phone.

Readings of the tiny poisonous PM2.5 particles reached in excess of 600 micrograms per cubic metre – the World Health Organisation deems a safe level to be 25.