measures for olympics

Traffic measures starting from 20 June 2008 details in this post.

The official website of Beijing2008 has a section dedicated to the Environment, full of good news, such as: Shougang is going to reduce its output during the games, Hebei is investing to cut emissions and increase monitoring, Beijing has upgraded/ordered 170 buses with EURO III and IV (also see car emissions), Beijing will close 70% of its mines this year, and be warned: “550 special environmental watchdogs in conjunction with local environmental administrations have began to fight against pollutants and protect the capital’s air quality” - anyone seen any of these people?

The China Daily (4 Jan 2008) reports vehicle bans, suspension of coal-burning plants for 2 months, Euro IV fuel standards, vapour recovery at fuel stations.

This New York Times article (29 Dec 2007) quotes a Canadian Olympic committee member, in the context of air quality: ‘we are definitely hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst’ and has a rather complete update on the situation and the efforts of the authorities.

According to this FT article (17 Sep 2007), Beijing authorities are focusing on implementing existing environmental rules rather than on temporary measures such as shutting down factories during the events, or banning cars from the streets. The focus is on reducing factories’ emissions of pollutants. According to this 2007 US study, as much as 1/3 of the PM pollution at the Olympic venues may be coming from outside Beijing, especially from Hebei, Shandong and Tianjin.

China Daily (11 Oct 2007) outlines some measures that are under discussion to improve the air quality during the Beijing Olympics:  

  • reduce coal use at power plants (target 25 million tons per year, from more than 30 million tons currently)
  • improve energy efficiency at major polluting factories (resulting in less emissions)
  • improve fuel vapour recovery at Beijing’s 1000 gas stations, and EURO IV gasoline available from 1 January 2008 (reducing SO2 emissions) - also here
  • reduce car use during the Games

From July 24 to September 20, the city, which will have over 3.3 million vehicles on the road by then, plans to remove 70 percent of government vehicles and half the private cars. Chemical, steel and building materials plants will also suspend operations, while power generating plants will be forced to reduce coal burning during the 58-day Games period.

“In our current air quality index, nitrogen dioxide density is not considered a major factor and ozone air pollution is totally excluded,” said Yang. “In western cities, where these things are measured, even unpleasant days are better than some of the best weather we have here.” The environment expert said Beijing may need a little help from the weather to keep the air flowing during the Games.

The same article also reports the following causes behind Beijing’s bad air: 40% car emissions, 30% dust and dirt, 20% energy consumption, 10% industrial emissions.