China’s industrial slowdown is helping make it easier to breathe

CHINA’S air quality is improving as industrial activity declines and its power and transportation sectors speed up decarbonisation efforts.

Concentrations of small airborne particulates fell 2.9 per cent over the first half of 2024 from the same period the year before, the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea) said in a report. The air quality improvements were greatest in the southwest, where rebounding hydropower reduced the need to burn coal.

Beijing has waged a decade-long battle against smog while trying to balance the health and social benefits of clean air with delivering the economic growth that bolsters its mandate to govern. Improvements made in the decade to 2022 added two years to average life expectancy, but progress faltered in 2023 as authorities focused on propping up the economy.

In the first half of 2024, the struggles of the property sector caused a slowdown in the production of building materials such as cement, pig iron and crude steel. Meanwhile, advances in clean energy helped meet new electricity demand with only a marginal increase in generation from fossil fuel plants.

“The power sector, a major driver of China’s emissions growth, has seen a significant slowdown in emissions increases due to robust growth in solar and wind power generation,” said Chengcheng Qiu, China analyst at Crea. BLOOMBERG