China: Amid COP26, Beijing pollution cloud reduces visibility

Beijing’s playgrounds closed playgrounds today due to air pollution, which has reduced visibility in parts of the Chinese capital to less than 200 meters, as China increases coal production amid a UN conference on the COP26 climate in Glasgow.

Beijing yesterday, Thursday, issued the first alarm this year for the autumn and winter period, demanding the suspension of some outdoor construction, factory work and outdoor school activities.

China, the world’s first polluter, has been widely criticized at the UN International Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow over the absence of President Xi Jinping.

Also as countries negotiate a reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland, China announced this week that it would increase coal production by one million tonnes a day.

China, which is 60 percent dependent on this fossil fuel for electricity generation, has been facing power outages in recent months and has consequently increased its electricity production from coal.

As part of this, a thick layer of fog covered the Chinese capital today, in places where visibility had dropped to less than 200 meters, according to the National Weather Service.

Road sections leading to the country’s major cities have been closed due to insufficient visibility, while the top of Beijing’s tallest buildings is lost in the fog.

Local authorities attributed the phenomenon to “adverse weather conditions and a regional spread of pollution”.

Schools in the Chinese capital have been ordered to suspend sports-related classes, as well as all their outdoor activities.

The presence of microparticles was estimated at around 220 micrograms per cubic meter of air, at a “very unhealthy” level, by the US Embassy in Beijing, at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that they not exceed 15.

Air pollution has dropped significantly in recent years in Beijing, which is expected to host the Winter Olympics next February.

However, the arrival of the cold this year led to the gradual activation of heating in the northern areas, fueling the pollution.

A cold wave expected to arrive from Siberia over the weekend is expected to disperse the cloud.

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Source From: Capital

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