Beijing saw the reading for a major air-pollution index fall to the lowest level in the January-November period since records began in 2013, authorities said. 

The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 33 micrograms per cubic meter in the first 11 months of the year. It is also the lowest in 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring provinces, Yu Jianhua, deputy director of the Beijing municipal ecology and environment bureau, told a press briefing Tuesday.

The PM2.5 reading is a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter that can penetrate deep into people's lungs and pose serious health risks.

The improved air quality is credited to measures that included limits on the total amount of carbon emissions and carbon intensity. Besides, a series of regulations strengthen the management of carbon emissions.

In 2021, authorities in Beijing issued quotas for big carbon emitters and helped establish a voluntary greenhouse gas-emission reduction alliance, the official said. 

For more about air quality in Beijing:

Beijing to embrace better ecological environment by 2025

(Cover image via VCG.)

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