Air pollution around Beijing rebounds as coal consumption rises by 13%

Missed targets

The region had a target of reducing PM2.5 pollution levels and number of heavily polluted days by 3%. The target was determined by the central government, but in a departure from the previous winter, it seems that local governments were given wide berth in deciding and implementing the measures to meet this target.

Predictably, local governments did away with restrictions on industrial operation that had squeezed output and emissions in 2017-18. Production of steel products plummeted 26%, non-ferrous metals 18%, cement 23% and thermal power 4% in winter 2017-18, only to rebound 30%, 25%, 4% and 16% during the past winter.

As a result, coal consumption increased by 13% in the six provinces included in the air pollution control region, buoyed by demand from power plants and metals industry, based on proprietary data from Fenwei Energy Information.

The 6 provinces around Beijing burn about 1,200 million tonnes of coal, 30% of the national total and more than the EU and the U.S. put together. The increase from winter 2017-18 to 2018-19, about 60 million tonnes, is more than Poland’s total consumption over the same period.