China's efforts to clear the air lauded

Environmental experts in Nairobi discuss nation's green targets and how Africa can learn from progress in nonfossil fuels

Concerted efforts by the central and local governments and the general public has seen China achieve significant results on the environmental front, despite ongoing rapid economic growth and urbanization, according to experts who attended an international conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

"Beijing, the capital, has managed to cut air pollution by 10 to 15 percent at a time when the World Health Organization has reported a rise in global levels of 8 percent. This is significant and positive," says Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

According to WHO, global urban air pollution worsened between 2008 and 2013. More than 80 percent of people living in urban centers that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed the world health body limits, threatening lives, productivity and economies

Steiner notes that nations are not acting fast enough to address the environmental challenges despite the fact time is running out.

"One of the most important steps is deploying air-monitoring systems to understand the levels of air pollution in urban centers. You have to understand your problem before creating measures to address it," he says.

China has the largest air-monitoring network among developing countries, and all 338 cities at prefecture-level or above have the monitoring capacity for six air quality indicators.

"The Chinese government is moving toward achieving improved air quality in their cities," says Sunday Leonard, a scientist with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a program supported by the UNEP. "They have prioritized the issue in their national agenda, and even the local governments and corporate sector have to adhere to it."

He was among the researchers who worked on the climate and environmental benefits of controlling "short-lived climate pollutants" in China for a report released in September. Short-lived climate pollutants are substances such as black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone and many hydro fluorocarbons, which have a significant impact on near-term climate change but have a relatively short life span in the atmosphere. They can last for a few days to about a decade.

"The report shows that China is consistently developing and implementing innovative policies. It will definitely achieve cleaner air quality in the next 15 years," says Leonard, who was in Kenya to attend the second UN Environment Assembly, the most powerful decision-making body for international environmental affairs, which ran May 23 to 27.

According to the report, China's five-year plans contain several important environment-related targets and encourage significant investment to achieve these targets.

The report shows that among the targets are those that could contribute to improved local air quality. This includes the goal of decreasing energy consumption per GDP by 20 percent and reducing total sulfur dioxide emissions by 10 percent, as per the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

Other goals include increasing the proportion of nonfossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 11.4 percent, decreasing energy consumption per GDP by 16 percent, reducing carbon dioxide emissions per GDP by 17 percent, decreasing total nitrogen oxides emissions by 10 percent, and total sulfur dioxide emissions by 8 percent, as per the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

"National records show the air quality targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan were achieved and exceeded," states the September report, adding that success is also being achieved toward goals in the 12th Five-year Plan, including the adoption of technologies that significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions per GDP.

"China leads in technology that captures dust and sulfates emitted during coal mining," adds Leonard, a Nigerian who is based in France. "It has helped to reduce black carbon emissions from the power sector, reversing what could have otherwise been a major black carbon emission source in the country."

In another report that looks at attempts to control Beijing's air pollution over a 15-year period, He Kebin, dean of environmental studies at Tsinghua University, says strategies such as phasing out dilapidated cars, limits on car ownership and adoption of new technologies in coal-powered plants have improved air quality in the city.

Another report, A Review of Air Pollution Control in Beijing 1998-2013, which was released on the second day of UN Environment Assembly, states Beijing's controls have seen a steady downward trend in the concentrations of many harmful pollutants.

lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/27/2016 page3)