After weeks of record-shattering smog in major Chinese cities, China sets a timetable for cleaner fuel standards. There were days when the pollution was so thick that major historical landmarks in Beijing, such as Tiananmen Square, were impossible to photograph, but that was far from the only toll that the pollutants, mostly caused by auto emissions, took. Some reports showed that hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely every year due to the smog.
The new standard caps sulfur content in gas for cars within 10 parts per million before the end of the year, with a grace period that ends in 2017, Xinhua reported. So far, Beijing is the only city to have adopted this standard, which is similar to Europe's Euro V. Analysts say that China's state oil companies, which will need to upgrade equipment, have been dragging their feet, exacerbating the levels of air pollution in China, Reuters reports.
The Beijing government initiated emergency measures last week, which involved temporarily shutting down 103 heavily polluting factories and taking one-third of government vehicles off the streets. The event that prompted this, an air quality index of 517 (300 means people should not be heading outdoors at all), caused widespread outrage in Chinese citizens, so much so that even official state newspaper Xinhua had criticized the government's inaction.
Air quality indexes are based on the amount of a potentially deadly particle in the air, PM 2.5. In mid-January, levels of PM 2.5 reached nearly 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, which is approximately the same concentration as industrial London in the mid-20th century, after which the government took drastic measures to curb air pollution. In early 2012, Beijing promised to release PM 2.5 levels in response to demand from citizens. A total of 73 other cities were to follow suit.
Last week, Pan Shiyi, a real estate tycoon, asked his 14 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese microblog of choice (Twitter is blocked), if China should adopt a "clean air act"-- the vast majority of replies were a resounding 'yes'.
The New York Times reported last week that Beijing wasn't even the most-polluted city in China (it was in 21st place), as nearly 1/7th of the massive country was shrouded in smog.
