The scale of the smog crisis facing China has again been highlighted as air pollution again reached dangerous levels in numerous urban centres.
The latest development comes just days after new figures were released showing a drastic slowdown in the growth of China’s coal industry.
It also follows a call from the country’s top climate change advisory body for drastic action to curb the growing pollution problem.
State media reported that several cities had closed factories, restricted the number of cars on the roads, and paused construction projects in response to high levels of particulate matter in Beijing and several surrounding cities.
Specifically, the state run Xinhua news agency reported earlier this week that measures had been enacted in Shijiazhuang to cut the number of vehicles on the roads by a fifth.
At the same time the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology announced that 36 companies in the city had stopped production and 75 had reduced output in an attempt to reduce emissions.
Separate media outlets reported that traffic restrictions had been imposed in Tianjin, Langfang, Handan and Baoding, while there were also reports that some construction sites had been ordered to suspend any activity that would increase levels of particulates in the air.
The government interventions came as Bloomberg newsagency reported that PM2.5 levels near Tiananmen Square had exceeded 300 micrograms per cubic metre.
That’s massively higher than the 25 microgram level that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as a limit for safe air.
The pollution is the latest in a series of smog incidents to blanket China’s cities in recent years, which has prompted the government to launch a series of crackdowns to try and tackle the problem.
Authorities have been given sweeping new powers to close polluting power plants and industrial facilities, limit the number of cars on the street, and drastically increase investment in clean technologies.
Recent reports also suggested that the government is considering a major departmental shake-up that would strengthen the Environment Ministry and ensure that new green regulations are enacted.
Bloomberg also reported comments from Li Junfeng, director general of the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, who told a conference in Beijing that China’s pollution had reached “unbearable” levels.
