Eight cities in northern China have failed to meet air quality targets

Almaty. December 12. Silkroadnews - Eight cities in northern China have failed to meet air quality targets, Reuters reports.
“Eight northern Chinese cities failed to meet air quality targets in October and November, even as local authorities launched rigorous steps to cut emissions during the winter, the government said on Monday,” the report said.
The situation reveals the complexity of the problem Beijing faces in cleaning up the country’s air in winter, when smog covers the northern regions with the beginning of the heating season.
According to the statement by the PRC’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) on Monday, the concentration of hazardous particles, known as PM2.5, in Handan, Hebei Province, increased by an average of 8.8% in October and November.
The city ranked last in the list of 28 cities included in the government’s six-month winter campaign to curb air pollution directed to reduce PM2.5 by 10-25% each month compared to last year’s levels.
Among other cities that failed to meet the target there are Jincheng and Changzhi in Shanxi province; Jining and Heze in Shandong province; and Kaifeng, Puyang and Zhengzhou in Henan province.
However, the data also showed that in November the average PM2.5 level in 28 cities decreased by 22.6% to 65 micrograms per cubic meter.
This year, Beijing has ordered millions of households to switch from coal to gas or electric heating and eliminated 44,000 coal-fired industrial boilers in 28 cities included in the campaign to reduce winter smog.
However, the recent gas shortage has forced the MEP to lift its ban on coal burning in some households, raising concerns about a possible increase in air pollution.
At the same time, the MEP warned that the next three months will be crucial for the campaign against smog, as “with weather conditions such as a lack of wind potentially making it more difficult to clear dirty air.”