Beijing to release PM 2.5 data

BEIJING - Just before Spring Festival this year, the capital city will start releasing data about the amount of tiny particulate matter that is detected in the air.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said it plans for the first time to begin releasing information gathered from efforts to detect the presence of PM 2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers). In keeping with other Chinese cities' decisions to tell the public more about airborne pollutants, the bureau will also release data about sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and larger particles.

The policy change comes after the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced at the end of 2011 that it would adopt a stricter index for gauging air quality, a decision made partly in response to public criticism about the standards that are now used to detect pollution.