Olympics-China talks up ‘green’ Olympics but prepares to fight smog

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ZHANGJIAKOU — China is utilizing the Winter Olympic Video games to drive its efforts to enhance the setting, however smog-prone capital Beijing remains to be getting ready for the worst because the opening ceremony looms.

Beijing has improved its air high quality since China received its bid to host the Video games, however the Ministry of Ecology and Surroundings has mentioned winter smog dangers remained “extreme.”

Ministry spokesman Liu Youbin instructed reporters on Thursday that contingency plans had been in place.

“When the time comes, Beijing and Hebei can be guided to undertake cheap environmental safety measures in accordance with the legislation,” he mentioned.

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Rumors that polluting heavy industries within the space can be shuttered from Jan. 1 had been “not true,” nonetheless, he mentioned.

Critics warned in 2015 – when China received its bid – that the Winter Olympics may very well be overshadowed by hazardous smog in a area dominated by heavy business. Chinese language President Xi Jinping subsequently vowed to run a “inexperienced” Video games, and Hebei promised to “remodel and improve” its industrial financial system.

Since then, China has planted hundreds of hectares of bushes in Beijing and surrounding Hebei province, constructed sprawling wind and photo voltaic farms, and relocated a whole lot of enterprises.

In Zhangjiakou metropolis, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Beijing and host to snowboarding and snowboarding occasions, 26-year-old beginner skier Deng Zhongping mentioned he has already felt the distinction.

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“After I got here to Beijing a number of years again I might endure with rhinitis due to air pollution, however the air high quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has improved so much,” he mentioned.

“I believe the air high quality at Zhangjiakou ski resort is even higher than some international ski resorts.”

In 2016, common concentrations of PM2.5 within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area stood at 71 micrograms per cubic meter and soared to greater than 500 micrograms over winter. That compares to a median 40 micrograms from January to September this yr.

The studying in Beijing was 33 micrograms within the first three quarters, assembly China’s 35-microgram normal, though exceeding the beneficial World Well being Group stage of 5 micrograms and prone to rise a lot greater over winter.

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“China will win many medals on the Winter Olympics, however the smog … may plunge the Video games into difficulties,” the Washington-based Worldwide Fund for China’s Surroundings mentioned earlier this yr.

GREENING THE GAMES

Officers mentioned throughout a government-organized tour this week that every one 26 Olympic venues in Beijing and Hebei province can be 100% powered by renewable power. Greater than 700 hydrogen-fueled automobiles will even be deployed, regardless of the federal government falling in need of a hydrogen manufacturing goal.

Preparations have included a tree-planting program that elevated forest protection in Zhangjiakou to 70%-80%, up from 56% beforehand.

China has additionally mentioned it could make the Video games “carbon impartial” for the primary time. Environmental group Greenpeace, although, mentioned with out extra knowledge it could be exhausting to judge whether or not the aim was really met.

Water shortage is one other concern, particularly in the case of creating synthetic snow and ice.

Organizers mentioned the Video games wouldn’t put further stress on native water provides and rely as an alternative on cisterns that collected mountain runoff and rainfall through the summer season – in step with China’s wider efforts to create a “round” financial system wherein assets are totally utilized and recycled.

“We’re all self-sufficient and ecologically round,” mentioned Wang Jingxian, a member of the 2022 Video games planning committee. (Reporting by Muyu Xu and David Stanway; Modifying by Tom Hogue)