Beijing achieves air pollution reduction target

Beijing's average concentration of PM2.5 fell to 33 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, meeting the city's air quality target for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), a senior official said on Tuesday.

Beijing's average concentration of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns — in 2020 was 38 micrograms per cubic meter.

Yu Jianhua, spokesman for the city's Ecology and Environment Bureau, said at a news conference that Beijing has demonstrated to the world over the past 20 years that a megacity with a rapidly increasing GDP, vehicle count, population and energy consumption can cut air pollution effectively.

According to the bureau, the city's average concentration of PM2.5 dropped by 63.1 percent in 2021 from what it was in 2013, an average annual reduction of 7.9 percent.

"The PM2.5 reduction surpassed that of developed countries during the same period," Yu said.

Meanwhile, he said, regional emissions of air pollutants exceed environmental capacity, which means the effort must continue.