Beijing has waged a decade-long battle against smog, while trying to balance the health and social benefits of clean air with delivering the economic growth that bolsters its mandate to govern.
Improvements made in the decade through 2022 added two years to average life expectancy, but progress faltered in 2023 as authorities focused on propping up the economy.
In the first half of 2024, the struggles of the property sector caused a slowdown in production of building materials like cement, pig iron and crude steel. Meanwhile, advances in clean energy helped meet new electricity demand with only a marginal increase in generation from fossil fuel plants.
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“The power sector, a major driver of China’s emissions growth, has seen a significant slowdown in emissions increases due to robust growth in solar and wind power generation,” said Chengcheng Qiu, China analyst at CREA.
Chart: Bloomberg
