Polluting emissions cut by more than half in Beijing since 2013

Beijing has realized the decoupling of economic growth and polluting emissions after 20 years' hard work to improve air quality, said a senior official with the Environment Office of the United Nations at the China International Fair for Trade in Services on Monday.

Helena Molin Valdés, head of the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition at the UN Environment Office, said at the Beijing International Forum for Metropolitan Clean Air and Climate Actions held by the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau that Beijing has reached an outstanding result on air quality improvement.

"Facing the crisis brought by COVID-19, all countries and cities need to further strengthen the cooperation to face the challenge of air quality and climate change," she said.

According to the city's environment authority, Beijing's annual average concentration of PM 2.5 has dropped from 89.5 micrograms per cu m in 2013 to 42 micrograms per cu m in 2019, which stands at more than a 50 percent decline.