China to Get $300 Million from ADB for Smog Efforts

Beijing was shrouded in acrid smog and under a pollution red alert for part of this week.

The first ever red alert issued by Beijing for smog is now lifted Thursday where sunshine penetrated through China’s capital along with the presence of blue skies that replaced the thick, toxic haze that smothered the city for days.

They are bringing winds to ease the smog.

Officials from Hebei and Tianjin, which neighbor Beijing, were also at the press conference.

Thomson ReutersSmoke rises from chimneys on a hazy day in DezhouBEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese environmental authorities rebuked the mayor of an eastern city over its ineffectual response to days of choking smog, state media said on Thursday, as the government works to show it is capable of tackling an air pollution crisis.

“Pollutant emissions in Beijing were reduced by around 30 percent on average after the local government took early warning measures to curb air pollution”, Cheng told the Global Times. Levels of PM 2.5, considered the most hazardous, crossed 600 units in Beijing, almost 25 times the acceptable standard set by the World Health Organization.

“We should have more information exchanges”, he said.

Under the red alert, Beijing banned outdoor operations on construction sites, and required some industrial plants to limit or stop production.

The municipal environment protection bureau inspected 587 major pollutant dischargers on Tuesday and found 38 of them had not followed orders to suspend production.

At Ele.me, an online food delivery company, anti-smog face masks passed spicy chicken burgers as the product requested most by customers in Beijing, said a company spokesman, Zou Yang.

Li Shixiang believed that law enforcement should also be improved. “It is not a small amount when the economy is slowing and enterprises are having difficulty making profits”.

After China’s first pollution “red alert” this week, the government is regulating the number of cars on roads.

Based on the bank’s estimates, the policy actions will help reduce Hebei’s annual coal consumption by about 12.4 million tons, representing about 4 percent of the province’s total coal consumption in 2012.