Roadmap charts China’s progress towards clean air

The progress China is making towards cleaning its air has once again been thrown into focus with the publication of the third annual Synergetic Roadmap on Carbon Neutrality and Clean Air for China.

In comparison with 2021, levels of particulate matter remained relatively consistent through 2022. Much of this was driven by meteorological conditions which, in a country the size of China, can affect air quality in different ways across different regions.

Atmospheric dispersion conditions in major regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei were worse than the previous five year average, pushing up PM2.5 levels. On the other hand, meteorological conditions in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions were more favourable.

However, when compared to levels measured in 2015, China’s real achievements become clearer:

• In 2022, the average annual population-weighted exposure to PM2.5 was 40.8% lower than 2015 levels.
• In 2022, 38% of the country’s population lived in areas exceeding China’s PM2.5 standards, a 37.5 percentage point decrease on the 2015 figure.

NO2 concentrations are also falling,  the 2022 level being 43.4% down on the 2013 figure.

In the debit column, China has seen ozone exposure levels increasing,  with a 6% rise in long-term exposure compared to 2021. The report describes ozone as ‘a growing threat to public health.’

What’s behind the figures?

Coal consumption – which accounts for 56.2% of energy consumption – increased by 0.3 percentage points between 2021 and 2022, while non-fossil energy consumption rose 0.8 percentage points to gain a 17.5% share of the market.

The growth in renewables is predictably remarkable. Between 2021 and 2022, grid-connected solar generation increased by 31.2%, wind by 16.2%, and nuclear by 2.5%.

Over the same period, the total volume of freight transported by railway increased by 4.5% and freight transported on water by 3.8%. Road freight transport fell by 5.5%.

Furthermore, the sales of EVs increased by 93.4%, and the country now boasts 5.2 million EV chargers.

2023-2024

While the Synergetic Roadmap is working with 2022 data, more recent figures show that air quality in the country has continued to improve. In 2024, Chinese cities at or above the prefecture level had an average PM2.5 levels of 29.3μg/m³ which is 2.7% down on 2023.

Similarly, the proportion of days with ‘good’ air quality rose 1.7 percentage points to 87.2% last year.

In 2024, Beijing experienced only two days of heavy pollution, a 96.6% decrease from the 58 days the city suffered in 2013.

Beijing enjoyed 290 days of good air quality throughout the year, which accounts for 79.2 percent of the year.