China talks about “Olympic” Olympics, but Reuters is preparing to fight smog

By Muyu Xu and David Stanway

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – China is using the Winter Olympics to boost its efforts to improve the environment, but the smog-stricken capital of Beijing is still preparing for the worst as the opening ceremony comes.

Beijing has improved its air quality since China won the bid to host the Games, but the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the risk of winter smog remains “serious.”

Ministry spokesman Liu Youbin told reporters that contingency plans are underway on Thursday.

“When the time comes, Beijing and Hebei will be directed to take reasonable measures to protect the environment in accordance with the law,” he said.

Rumors that the surrounding heavy-duty polluting industry would close on Jan. 1 are “not true,” however, he said.

Critics warned in 2015 – when China won its bid – that the Winter Olympics could overshadow dangerous smog in a region dominated by heavy industry. Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to hold “green” games, and promised that Hebei would “transform and renew” its industrial economy.

Since then, China has planted thousands of acres of trees in Beijing and nearby Hebei Province, built extensive wind and solar parks and relocated hundreds of businesses.

In the city of Zhangjiakou, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Beijing and hosting ski and snowboard trials, 26-year-old amateur skier Deng Zhongping said he has already felt the difference.

“When I came to Beijing a few years earlier I would have suffered from rhinitis due to pollution, but the air quality of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has improved a lot,” he said.

“I think the air quality at Zhangjiakou Ski Resort is even better than at some foreign ski resorts.”

In 2016, the average PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 71 micrograms per cubic meter and rose to more than 500 micrograms in the winter. From January to September this year, it averaged 40 micrograms.

Beijing’s reading was 33 micrograms in the first three quarters, meeting China’s standard 35 micrograms, although it exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommended 5 micrograms level and is likely to rise much higher in the winter.

“China will win a lot of medals at the Winter Olympics, but smog.

GREENING GAMES

Officials said on a government-sponsored tour this week that all 26 Olympic venues in Beijing and Hebei province would be powered by 100% renewable energy. More than 700 hydrogen-powered vehicles will also be deployed, although the government has been left out of its goal of producing hydrogen.

In preparation, they have included a program for planting trees. Zhangjiakou’s forest cover has risen from 70% to 80%, up from the previous 56%.

China has also said it will make the game “carbon neutral” for the first time. The environmental group Greenpeace, however, said that without further data it would be difficult to assess whether the target had actually been met.

Water scarcity is another concern, especially when it comes to creating artificial snow and ice.

Organizers say the Games will not put extra pressure on local water supplies and will focus on cisterns that collect mountain spills and rainfall in the summer, in line with China’s broader efforts to create a “circular” economy that fully utilizes and recycles resources.

“We are all self-sufficient and ecologically circular,” said Wang Jingxian, a member of the 2022 Games organizing committee.