Focus on Arts and Ecology

Following the national three-year air pollution action plan released in July, Beijing has released its own city-level plan. It targets a reduction of severe air pollution days of 25% from 2015 levels by 2020, and a fall in volatile organic compounds of at least 30% from 2015 levels. The plan also sets specific PM 2.5 targets for districts in Beijing ranging from 46-55 parts per million depending on the district. The plan has a strong focus on the transportation sector: the city will strive to reduce transportation air pollution by 30% from 2017 levels by electrifying vehicles, retiring old ones, and moving road freight to rail. The city is targeting 400,000 new energy vehicles by 2020, and will reduce construction dust by 30% on 2017 levels. Polluting enterprises will be removed from the region and fossil fuel businesses will have to reduce their emissions. Meanwhile, renewable energy will be boosted, and households will complete the switch to gas or electric heating from coal.