As Beijing and its surroundings continue to choke, Chinese netizens are keeping up the pressure to clean up the air and water on a government which has drafted elaborate plans to counter runaway pollution. On Wednesday morning, pollution levels were 10 times higher than the standards established by the World Health Organisation (WHO), justifying the red alert that was issued on Monday and will last till Thursday afternoon. Aware of the public resentment and call for action against pollution that has been splashed across the social media, Chinese authorities launched a “tough crackdown” against companies that flouted the three-day shutdown that was imposed following the “red alert”, state-run Xinhua reported. Public opinion The state-run tabloid Global Times quoted Li Zuojun, a deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council as telling that public opinion had pushed the government to take more measures to curb the smog.
Much of the environmental consciousness and activism from below, is the result of the Smartphone revolution which has grabbed the attention China’s youth. The country’s e-commerce icon Alibaba group, Xiaomi, the maker of inexpensive smartphones, and cyber-giant Baidu have played a critical role in positioning China’s young men and women at the vanguard for an ecological turnaround. Last year, Jack Ma of Alibaba pioneered the inexpensive supply — $ 10 each — of kits that could gauge the presence of pollutants in freshwater. These findings could then be uploaded online on a digital map. Xiaomi followed up with an app called the Mi Air Purifier. It sends air quality data to users, alerting them about air contamination levels. Baidu, on its part has unveiled its Bluetooth-paired digital chopsticks. When dipped into cooked food, it reveals its status, by lighting up as blue in case it is of high quality, or red if otherwise. The Chinese are drawing elaborate plans to cut emissions substantially, apparently in response to the rising public pressure and in tune with standards befitting a rising global power.
Emissions to peak by 2030 China announced last week that it would slash emissions of major pollutants related to power sector by 60 per cent by the end of the decade — an assertion that fed into ongoing climate change talks in Paris. The share of coal in China’s overall energy consumption would be reduced to 60 per cent — a target that Beijing has to meet in order to conform to its goal of peaking greenhouse gas emissions by around 2030. Analysts point out that China is focusing on natural gas, imported from Siberia, as one of the important elements of its clean energy basket. Later this month, Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are set sign an agreement before the end of this year on the construction of a cross-border pipeline section under the Amur river.