China to curb air pollution in Hebei Province

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China is taking measures to tackle air pollution ahead of the winter heating season in Hebei Province by ordering the rural areas around Beijing to use electricity and natural gas instead of burning coal, which is the major cause of winter smog.

By the end of October, 18 counties and districts under the jurisdiction of Langfang and Baoding - which border Beijing and Tianjin - will be banned from burning raw coal.

Authorities have ordered heavily polluting industries to cut their emissions of industrial pollutants during the four-month winter heating period. /Xinhua Photo

In other regions of the country, 1.8 million households must change from traditional coal-fired heating sources to gas and electric ones.

The province is also improving energy efficiency and replacing coal with clean energy in the industrial sector.

Authorities have ordered heavily polluting industries, such as steel, casting and coking, to restrict production and cut their emissions of industrial pollutants during the four-month winter heating period that usually starts on November 15.

The port city of Tianjin has issued similar measures for these industries.

Yang Yong from Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau said that data shows pollutants created by coal burning increase by 30 percent in the winter.

Without output limits, the levels of pollutants would exceed environmental capacity, he said.

China has set a target to reduce the level of pollution in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. /Xinhua Photo

Most of the industries affected have been operating over capacity and the limits will not lead to a marked shortage of supply, he said.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region sits in the heart of the North China Plain where air pollution - particularly winter smog - occurs as a result of the high concentration of industrial and vehicle emissions, limited air circulation and the burning of coal.

Local governments are taking harsher measures to fight air pollution with more residents increasingly worried about the impact to their health, particularly of PM 2.5 - airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter.

China has set a target to reduce the level of PM 2.5 pollution by at least 15 percent in the cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between October 2017 and March 2018.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency