China’s Olympic efforts to tackle air pollution

19 February 2022

By Abby Sze

As athletes race down the slopes in the 2022 Winter Olympics, we are keen to go beyond the powered snow to understand the work China has done in an attempt to improve its image as a major carbon emitter. After winning the 2015 bid to host this year’s Olympics, China declared a “war on pollution”. Tackling the problem head-on, the government had shut down 267 firms to reduce pollution. At first glance, such actions seem to be quite effective. Compared to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, China’s current air pollution concentration had decreased by 50%. Baoding, a city in China’s Hebei province, reported a 54% decrease in PM2.5 air pollution during the same period. (PM2.5 is a type of particulate pollutant that can hamper breathing and potentially enter the bloodstream via the lungs.) Therefore, a reduction of PM2.5 can be seen as a victory for China in its battle against pollution.

However, relative to other countries, China still has a lot more work to do. Compared to Los Angeles, Beijing still has three times more air pollutants than America’s most polluted city. Despite China’s past efforts to reduce emissions, the country still has not met the WHO air quality standard. For more polluted cities such as Beijing, the average lifespan of citizens can be 5-6 years shorter than citizens living outside these cities. There are multiple factors that contribute to the current plight China faces.  

Firstly, the growing demand for private transportation. China’s rapid economic growth in the past decades, coupled with its sizable population, result in a surge in the number of car buyers. Ipsos’ recent study suggests that 2 out of 3 respondents prefer private cars over public transport. With 21.1 million automobile registrations in 2020, China is the largest automobile market in the world. Motor vehicles emit a range of dangerous air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, that contribute to China’s high emissions rate. Even with the emergence of electric vehicles that do not emit such air pollutants, there will still be a transition phase before most vehicles on the road are electric.

Secondly, the agglomeration of people in urban cities. With better educational and job prospects, people migrate to cosmopolitan cities, with some urban centres home to more than double the original number of people they had at the start of the 21st century. This leads to an increased demand for electricity. Despite having the world's largest annual wind and solar capacity additions, China is still highly dependent on coal as a source of energy. Coal is highly pollutive and coal power plants continue to dominate the outskirts of Beijing, hence the constant smog that surrounds the region. In addition to the mountains along the northern border of China, natural winds are unable to shift the polluted air towards the Pacific Ocean. As the smog tends to remain trapped within the country, the average Chinese citizen is estimated to have their life expectancy shortened by 2 years.  

Thirdly, the high demand for intermediate manufacturing and construction goods. With numerous state-sponsored infrastructure projects, China is a big user of concrete and steel, which combined generate up to 16% of global carbon emissions in their production processes. Thus, while these projects have supported China’s rapid economic growth and created more job opportunities, they have also contributed to China’s significant carbon footprint.

The Chinese government does acknowledge the situation and the pressing health problems from its persistently high levels of pollution. From direct legislation to introducing its national carbon market in July 2021, China has adopted both market and non-market measures to reduce its emissions, most of which we view as relatively effective. However, we believe that China has picked most of the low hanging fruits, and in order to further reduce its emissions, more has to be done. Reducing global emissions is a race against time and China has a massive role to play to ensure the world does not fall short. China’s “Four Reforms and One Cooperation” strategy - curbing unnecessary energy consumption, diversifying its energy uses away from coal, improving energy technologies and introducing market-based mechanisms to facilitate the growth of its energy sector - is a step in the right direction. Apart from its domestic policies, China has also sought to reduce global pollutants on an international level. During the COP26 conference, China pledged to reach a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, contributing to global efforts to decarbonise.

While we are optimistic that China is moving in the right direction to fundamentally tackle the problem of air pollution, there will be little margin for error the longer China’s energy away from coal transition takes. China faces tough choices ahead between sustained improvements in environmental quality and economic growth, and the world continues to watch in earnest. The Winter Olympics might be a gripping race among athletes, but the world’s mission to save the planet requires more mutual cooperation rather than competition.

(Opinion article based on a Financial Times write-up)