China’s Industrial Slowdown Helps Easier Breathing – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — China’s air quality is improving as industrial activity slows and the energy and transportation sectors accelerate decarbonization efforts.

Concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air fell by 2.9% in the first half of 2024 compared with the same period the previous year, the Finnish Energy and Clean Air Research Centre said in a report. Improvements in air quality were greatest in the southwest, where resurgent hydropower has reduced the need to burn coal.

Beijing has been battling smog for a decade, trying to balance the health and social benefits of clean air with delivering economic growth that bolsters its mandate to govern. Improvements in the decade to 2022 added two years to average life expectancy, but progress slowed in 2023 as authorities focused on sustaining the economy.

In the first half of 2024, struggling real estate caused a slowdown in 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 small increase in output from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

“The power sector, a major driver of emissions growth in China, has seen a significant slowdown in emissions growth due to the rapid growth in solar and wind power generation,” said Chengcheng Qiu, China analyst at CREA.