ZHANGJIAKOU, China –
China is using the Winter Olympic Games to spur efforts to improve the environment, but the smog-prone capital Beijing is still bracing for the worst as the opening ceremony ends.
Beijing has improved air quality since China won the bid to host the Olympics, but the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the risk of winter smog remained “severe”.
Ministry spokesman Liu Youbin told reporters on Thursday that contingency plans were in place.
“When the time comes, Beijing and Hebei will be guided to apply reasonable environmental protection measures in accordance with the law,” he said.
However, rumors that polluting heavy industries in the area will be closed from January 1 are “untrue”, he said.
Critics warned in 2015 – when China won the bid – that the Winter Olympics could be overshadowed by dangerous smog in an area dominated by heavy industry. Chinese President Xi Jinping later vowed to hold the “green” Games, and Hebei promised to “transform and upgrade” its industrial economy.
Since then, China has planted thousands of hectares of trees in Beijing and surrounding Hebei province, built solar and wind farms, and relocated hundreds of businesses.
In the city of Zhangjiakou, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Beijing and a host to skiing and snowboarding events, 26-year-old amateur skier Deng Zhongping said he was impressed get the difference.
He said: “When I went to Beijing a few years ago, I had rhinitis because of the pollution, but the air quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has improved a lot.
“I think the air quality at Zhangjiakou ski resort is even better than some foreign ski resorts.”
In 2016, the average concentration of PM2.5 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 71 micrograms/cubic meter and spiked to more than 500 micrograms during winter. That compares with an average of 40 micrograms from January to September this year.
The measurement in Beijing was 33 micrograms in the first three quarters of the year, which meets China’s 35 microgram standard, although it’s above the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 5 micrograms and is likely to go much higher. in winter.
“China will win many medals at the Winter Olympics, but the smog … could push the Olympics into trouble,” the Washington-based China International Foundation for the Environment said on Thursday. this early year.
GREEN GAMES
Officials said during a government-organized tour this week that all 26 Olympic venues in Beijing and Hebei province will be powered by 100% renewable energy. More than 700 hydrogen-powered vehicles will also be deployed, despite the government’s failure to meet its hydrogen production target.
Preparatory work has included a tree planting program that has increased forest cover in Zhangjiakou to 70%-80%, up from 56% previously.
China also said it would make the Olympics “carbon neutral” for the first time. However, the environmental group Greenpeace said without more data it would be difficult to assess whether the target was actually achieved.
Water scarcity is another concern, especially when it comes to artificial snow and ice creation.
Organizers say the Games will not put additional pressure on local water supplies and instead rely on tanks that collect mountain runoff and summer rainfall – in line with the effort broader China to create a “circle” economy in which resources are fully utilized and recycled.
“We are all self-sufficient and in ecological circles,” said Wang Jingxian, a member of the 2022 Olympics planning committee.
Reporting by Muyu Xu and David Stanway; Editing by Tom Hogue
