China smog hotspot Hebei meets air standard for first time in May: government

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s smog-prone province of Hebei, the country’s biggest steel producing region, met a national quality of air standard as a beginner last month, its environment bureau said on Tuesday.

The heavily industrial province surrounds Beijing and it has been on the frontline to a war on pollution since 2019 after toxic smog spread from Hebei for the national capital city.

Hebei has converted many hundreds of households to propane from coal, curbed pollution from vehicles and imposed new ultra-low emissions standards on its many steel mills, cement factories and power plants.

In May, Hebei’s average power lung-damaging small particles, named PM2.5, stood at 33 micrograms per cubic meter, the Hebei Ecology and Environment Bureau said in any notice .

It was at first chance that Hebei’s monthly average fell within the interim standard of 35 micrograms since China began measuring PM2.5 in 2019, the bureau said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends average PM2.5 rates of no more than 10 micrograms.

Hebei’s overall co2 index fell 6.6 percent in May if compared to the same month last season.

While the province is taking success in cutting PM2.5 rates and also other air pollutants, concentrations of ground-level ozone – often known as “sunburn for that lungs” – have continued to boost.

Ozone levels reached 196 micrograms per cubic meter in May, up 5.9 percent from the same month during the past year, the bureau said.

Ozone is attributable to the interaction of sunlight with chemical toxins found in car exhaust fumes.

Air pollution in China generally eases in May as weather improve and coal consumption falls.

From January to April, PM2.5 rates in Hebei actually rose year on year, raising fears the fact that the war on pollution had stalled amid concerns about China’s slowing economy.