Samantha Singha

Mr. Peterson
Writing 39C
6 December 2014
Advocacy Essay:
Chinas Plan to Eradicate Smog from its Cities.
The air quality in China has become extremely severe in the last couple years that some
days of the year, even the sun is blocked out from the haze. Smog, a type of air pollution caused
by chemical fumes has steadily grown in many cities across China due to the growing number of
industrial factories and reliance on nonrenewable energy, not to mention the geography itself
traps the dirty air. Resulting from the smog that lingers in the air, Chinese citizens have been
showing symptoms and illnesses that have a direct correlation to their air quality. Citizens living
in different regions of China have different health effects such cancer in some region to asthma
in others. Difficulty in breathing, asthma, reduced resistance to lung infections and colds, and
eye irritation some of the products of bad air (Louisiana). The health effects are numerous in
individuals of all ages but the smog even affects the environment. Smog affects the ozone layers
which stops plants growth and can cause damage to crops and forest, however, up until now, the
government hasnt done much.
In the winter of 2013, the air quality become so severe that schools were halted, people
wore face masks and most people were coughing. In some cases Chinese citizens nowadays have
taken it upon themselves to make their own air purifiers, and there are many people out there

who have come up with some ideas of their own to battle the pollution. Some ideas include a
bicycle that pumps clean air as you pedal, artificial rain to wash out the smog, and even an
electrostatic vacuum cleaner which collects the smog particles clearing up the skies (Wan).
However, after being Forced into action by the ensuing public outrage as Time Magazine puts
it, on October 18th, the Shanghai government released a five year plan titled the Clean Air Act
Plan (2013-2017). The government has laid out a series of plans to lower the smog levels in the
cities that need it most such as Beijing, Shanghai, and the Yangtze Delta Regions, areas where
there is a bountiful amount of factories. The overall goal of this plan is to have reduced smog
levels by 20 percent of PM2.5 in 2017 compared to the levels in 2012 (Dong). PM2.5 is a
measurement created by the Environmental Protection Agency that checks particulate matter
the size of 2.5 microns in the air. The measurement for healthy air is approximately 50 PM, but
in 2013 Shanghais level reached up to 602.5, surpassing the hazardous level of about 400
PM2.5. This incident urged the government to act quickly. In the act, each city has some minor
adjustments to the plan since each city has different severities of smog level. The basis of the
plans include eliminating outdated industrial facilities, issuing specific levels and measures for
dust pollution in industries, limiting high polluting vehicles and even preventing some from
entering the city, setting higher standards for pollution emitting cars, organizing an auctions for
car licenses which will limit cars on the street thus reducing car pollution, promoting cleaner
energy in cars by switching out old fuel for new ones, making buses run on electric, switching
power on ships from off shore to on shore generators and finally, banning the use of coal
burning. Each one of these steps targets a different aspect of air pollution either in the vehicular
section or the industrial facilities. However, coal produces 80 percent of China's electricity and
about 60 percent of its total energy supply (Chang), which is why coal should be the first priority

in cleaning up the current pollution problem. Targeting the biggest factor will make battling the
smaller sources much easier and if the plan works the air should be immensely cleaner by then.
Accounting for 45 percent of the PM2.5 smog pollution in all of China, the use of coal
should be reduced drastically to meet the goal of the legislation quickest. To accomplish this the
Clean Air Act Plan for (2013-2017), has numerous solutions for coal use in homes as well as in
factories and facilities that use coal as a main source of energy. Because coal use has been
Chinas main energy for years, China is the number one carbon emitter in the world, even with
all of the other countries combined, China comes out on top (Bloomberg). To eliminate coal use
completely within five years is impossible, however reducing the usage little by little is more
possible. The Chinese government plans to increase the non-fossil fuel usage, such as natural
gases, nuclear, wind, solar and other zero emission generation capacity (Leavenworth). To
reduce coal use in factories such as smelteries, metal plants, textiles, electroplating, forgeries and
such, they plan to either shut down 2,500 coal boilers and 300 industrial furnaces or have them
switch to a cleaner source of energy (Philips). The plan also mentions buying electricity from
other provinces to cut down coal use and dependency. The coal plants are required to use the
cleanest coals possible if not banning coal at all. All coal will be inspected for cleanliness upon
importing and any coal that ...contains 30% or more of ash content and 1.5% or more of sulfur
content... is banned from being bought (Bloomberg). During winter times, many homes use
coal burning as a source of heat and this causes the air around October to January to be heavily
dense with smog and chemicals. To overcome home usage of coal, the government plans to
replace homes with electrical heaters.
For any plan or movement to proceed and progress, requires the participation and
involvement of many members of a community. Cutting Chinas dependence on coal-burning

requires state-owned industries, such as Chinas oil and power companies, which have long
resisted governmental environmental controls, to reduce their use (Shanghai). To make sure the
companies follow the environmental law, the government has stated that if these companies do
not follow their directive, the government will block companys access to bank loans as well as
the tax breaks. In the cities, the Chinese government has let the officials in each province know
that if their city is in the Top Ten Dirtiest Cities in China list, made by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection, their promotions will be at risk. China is specifically targeting the
heavy hitters, the officials who enforce laws in cities and the owners of polluting companies to
hopefully make a dent on the pollution crisis. However according to Zhao Wei, a coal distributor
in Tang county says that some factories have avoided those controls by hiding their pollution,
such as letting off air emissions at night when they're harder to detect (Chang). There will
definitely be some individuals that try to find loopholes in the laws since the government cant
monitor the plans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some of the feedback on this ban in the
residential communities such as a farmer who states that "We're talking about poor people. There
are no pipelines to bring in natural gas. There's no way they'll replace coal."(Chang), however
the government is still working to fix this problem. In the poorer areas of the province some
pipelines for natural gases have not been built yet creating concern about whether the plan will
actually go through, but the government is working their ways from big cities downward, which
is why the plan is a five year plan.
Economically, the total cost of the Clean Air Act is an estimated 280 billion US dollars.
In Shanghai, Zhou Qiang, secretary general of the Shanghai Development and Reform
Commission says, Fiscal investment in environmental protection is kept at about 3 percent of
the citys GDP (Shanghai). From abroad, the United States and parts of Europe have begun

showing interest in Chinas clean air market tech, making the future cost to be around 555 billion
dollars by 2020. The cost and effect of this plan does not just limit itself to China but Australia as
well. Since China imports some of their coal, placing a ban on dirty coal it means that Australia,
one of their main sources of coal, will be losing some revenue. About 4 billion dollars in revenue
will be lost since Australias coal does not meet the standard China has set for cleaner coal
(Mcnab). The economy in Shanghai will be invariably affected by the environmental laws,
but the citys industrial and economic growth in the next few years will also enable Shanghai to
raise economic efficiency, growth quality and competitiveness and save land and resources for
emerging industries says Ma Jing, chief engineer of the Shanghai Economic and Information
Technology Commission. (Shanghai). Overall, the benefit of the environmental plans outweigh
the monetary cost.
The Clean Air Act is being implemented not just in Shanghai, but all of China
specifically the heaviest smog regions. Shanghai and the other regions including the Yangtze
Delta region like the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, must work together to accomplish the 20
percent reduced PM2.5 levels set up by the government. Coal should be the main focus because
coal is not only a regressive form of energy but it contributes to a major chunk of air pollution in
China. The plan will target plants by reducing the heavily polluting, old industries, replace the
existing plants coal fuel with renewable sources of energy such as natural gas, wind or solar,
replace home coal use with electricity, and monitor clean coal imports. The Clean Air Act plan
itself, not just the focus on coal, should be implemented because although coal is a massive
chunk of pollution, reducing cars and or replacing fuels would help decline air pollution. The
Chinese government has even gone so far as to have a sort of punishment for the cities and or
companies who do not follow the regulations. Each city must do its part to reduce coal use and or

switch to renewable energy sources. China will be making use of the plan to hopefully reduce
carbon emissions and clean up their skies throughout the nation. If this plan goes through
successfully, China will have cleaner skies, breathable air and healthier citizens. Perhaps China
can serve as a model for other countries suffering from smog and or air pollution and take a
different approach if not to reduce coal use then to turn to modern renewable forms of energy.

Source Cited
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Philips, Ari. "Shanghai To Forbid Coal Burning As China Decides To Monitor Smogs
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Yongqiang, Gu. "The Cost of Cleaning Chinas Filthy Air? About $817 Billion, One Official
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Wan, William. "China's Air Pollution Prompts Creative, Sometimes Wacky,

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Bloomberg News. "China Bans Use of Coal With High Ash or Sulfur to Fight
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Chang, Jack. "Top Stories." AP Top News Headlines. Tampa Bay Times, n.d. Web. 06 Dec.
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Australia, Heather Mcnab for Daily mail. "China Coal Crisis: Nearly HALF of Australia's Coal
Exports Could Be Hit by a Ban on 'dirty' Minerals Which May See the Nation Lose $4 BILLION
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