BEIJING - China’s reintroduction of a pollution action plan this winter helped improve air quality after its disappearance in 2023 led to a surge in smog, according to a new report.

Levels of PM2.5 small airborne particulates fell by 1.6 per cent from October to March compared to the previous year, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea) said on April 30.

It followed a 4.7 per cent increase in the winter of 2022-2023, after the government failed to roll out its annual winter action plan while it was dealing with the end of Covid-19 controls.

Still, half of targeted cities missed their PM2.5 targets in the final quarter of 2023, while 41 per cent of cities missed them in the first quarter of 2024, Crea analyst Chengcheng Qiu wrote.

China has battled air pollution since the country emerged as an industrial power, forcing the government in Beijing to weigh the health and social benefits of clean air against delivering the economic growth that bolsters its mandate to govern.

While it has made great strides in the past decade, progress faltered in 2023 as the authorities focused on propping up the economy. 

China began rolling out action plans for winter pollution in 2017 as air quality typically worsens over the colder months because of the extra coal-burning that is needed to heat homes and businesses.

The plan usually includes specific targets for individual cities and guidance for certain industrial and energy sectors. 

Having skipped the plan for winter 2022-2023, the government waited until December to publish last year’s instead of rolling it out in the autumn.

As a result, national PM2.5 levels increased 0.9 per cent on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2023 and dropped 3.6 per cent in the first three months of 2024, according to Crea.

That shows air pollution controls may have become less of a priority, Crea said. But it also shows the positive impact of government action when the plans are enforced. 
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