Pollution brings 1st-ever “red alert” in Beijing

Beijing has gone into shutdown mode today after the city’s government issued its first “red alert” pollution notice – the most severe smog warning yet for the capital.

Under the red alert, the highest in the four-tier emergency response system created in 2013, all schools have been ordered to be closed, and outdoor construction halted.

Emergency measures include restricting road traffic, except electric vehicles, using an odd and even licence plate number system pioneered before the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The red alert brings factory closures, road restrictions, vehicle bans and a Beijing city government recommendation for schools to cancel classes.

A grey haze hung over the city of around 21.5 million people, with levels of PM2.5 – harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs – reaching 350 micrograms per cubic metre according to the U.S. embassy, which issues independent readings.

A boy wearing a mask sits on the shoulders of a man as they watch a flag-raising ceremony amid heavy smog at the Tiananmen Square, after the city issued its first ever “red alert” for air pollution, in Beijing, China, December 8, 2015.

On Tuesday, China’s capital felt the effects of the new restrictions around its air pollution red alert.

Thats the most serious warning signaling three consecutive days of severe smog. With only half the city’s cars taking to the streets, getting anywhere in Beijing right now must be a nightmare.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre said that the smog was expected to dissipate when a cold front arrived on Thursday afternoon. The public transport strain will be handled by adding more subway trains and buses.

The average PM 2.5 concentrations in Delhi from 6 am on Sunday to 6 am on Monday was about 216 micrograms per cubic metres about 3.6 times the Indian safe standard. A study led by atmospheric chemist Jos Lelieveld of Germany’s Max Planck Institute and published in the journal Nature this year estimated 1.4 million people each year die prematurely because of China’s pollution.

China is one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, due to numerous coal-fired plants that have fueled the country’s rise as a global economic superpower.

A red alert has never been called in Beijing before this.

The rise in smog levels comes just a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the COP21 climate change conference in Paris where he urged nations across the world to unite to reduce carbon emissions.