An estimated 8,572 premature deaths occurred in four major Chinese cities this year due to high levels of PM2.5, a study has found.
Beijing releases complete data of PM2.5
China will spend 350 billion yuan ($56 billion) by 2015 to curb air pollution in major cities, the environmental watchdog said on Wednesday.
Readings of PM (particular matter) 2.5 in the city of Lanzhou, one of China's most polluted, will be available for public scrutiny in December.
Thermo Fisher Scientific's sales of air quality monitoring products in the Chinese market have been growing, and now account for 25 to 30 percent of the company's global air quality business.
China's rapid industrialization and urbanization have saddled cities like Linfen with heavy environmental burdens, but now dramatic turnaround is taking place.
Environmental authorities ordered 74 cities to ensure that they have a mechanism in place to publish daily reports on levels of PM2.5.
Beijing will introduce new fuel standards that municipal officials say are nearly on par with the European Union's Euro V on May 31.
Beijing plans to eliminate 66 highly polluting enterprises to improve the city's air quality, the city's environmental protection bureau said.
The Beijing municipal government has already announced plans to improve the quality of the city's air by covering 100,000 sq m of roofs with greenery by the end of this year.
Beijing has developed measures to cut fine particle pollution or PM 2.5 in the air during the 2012-2020 period, local authorities said Monday.
Authorities in north China's port city of Tianjin on Monday said they will start including the stricter PM2.5 index in air quality readings.
The revised air quality standard that includes an index of PM2.5 will be implemented throughout the country by January 1, 2016, said an environment protection official on Friday.
Stricter air quality standards will be adopted in cities, the State Council announced on Wednesday.
Beijing has banished about 12,500 vehicles from other provinces from entering the city because they were deemed to have excessive emissions.
Beijing will take some government cars off its roads as part of a campaign to lower the city's PM2.5 readings and improve air quality.
That controlling PM2.5 has been made top priority on the municipal government of Beijing's 2012 list of public welfare projects is indeed beyond many people's expectations.
Most big cities in China still failed to publish adequate pollution information in 2011.
The Chinese capital began releasing hourly air pollution data on Thursday to address growing public concern over air quality.
More than 100 flights in Beijing were grounded because of smog at dawn on Tuesday, according to Capital International Airport.
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