Beijing to raise “red alert” pollution threshold

BEIJING - Two months after intense smog triggered the capital’s first-ever red alert, Beijing’s environmental protection bureau said the highest alert will only be issued when the daily average air quality index (AQI) is forecast to exceed 500 a day, 300 for two days in a row or 200 for four days. Presently, a red alert is issued when the AQI is forecast to exceed 200 for at least three days.

Last December, the city issued its first-ever red alert, closing schools and suspending outdoor construction work as thick smog enveloped the city.

The new criteria will take effect at the end of March, and will standardise pollution alerts across Beijing, the neighbouring port city of Tianjin and four cities in surrounding Hebei province -  Tangshan, Baoding, Langfang and Cangzhou. From there, it will expand to a larger area.

The Deputy Head of the Bureau’s emergency response office says these efforts will “in effect tighten the pollution controls” for the outlying regions.

Despite Beijing’s announcement last month that it will close 2,500 small highly-polluting firms this year, environmental officials admit that China is “unlikely” to meet the air quality standards set by the state until at least 2030. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).