The Roots Of China's Pollution Crisis

China's pollution problem is a well-known issue with serious consequences for both its citizens and the world. The country's rapid economic growth and industrialization have resulted in various forms of pollution, including air, soil, and water pollution, causing significant environmental and health problems. China's reliance on fossil fuels, population growth, agricultural sector, and mega-projects have all contributed to the pollution problem. While China has made efforts to address pollution through legislation, renewable energy investments, and new technologies, the benefits are often outweighed by the increasing demand for energy and the need for economic growth.

Population growth and soil pollution

China's population growth has resulted in increased soil pollution. As the most populated country in the world, China has relatively little fertile land and even less water. The maintenance of its agricultural land is of utmost importance to feed its large and growing population. However, China is among the countries with the highest levels of soil pollution.

Agricultural activities, industrial activities, and urbanisation all contribute to soil pollution in China. The excessive use of pesticides and fertilisers on farmland has contaminated the soil, threatening food safety and sustainable agriculture. This contamination has also rendered some farmland unsuitable for growing crops. According to a 2000 report, 36,000 of 300,000 hectares of monitored farmland had harmful heavy metal levels exceeding the standard by more than 12%. This has resulted in the contamination of an estimated 6 million tonnes of food grain each year, causing economic losses.

Industrial activities also contribute to soil pollution, as airborne industrial pollutants fall onto the land, particularly in western China. The industrial boom in the 1990s and early 2000s led to the clustering of factories along lakeshores and increased pollution. China's past economic growth, largely reliant on fossil fuels, has caused severe air pollution, with northern China suffering from air pollution due to coal burning. The burning of fossil fuels and industrial discharges have contaminated China's waterways, rendering them unfit for direct human use.

The Chinese government has started to address the soil pollution problem. In 2014, a new environmental protection law was approved, allowing for heavier fines for polluters. Additionally, in 2015, Beijing shut down industrial facilities and reduced car emissions to improve air quality, resulting in a record low PM2.5 concentration. While these efforts are promising, cleaning up soil pollution will require significant investment and time.

Fossil fuel burning

China's economic growth has been largely dependent on fossil fuels, which has resulted in severe air pollution. The burning of fossil fuels, including coal, gasoline, and diesel, has led to a high number of premature deaths and respiratory illnesses in the country. According to a report by the World Bank in 1997, industrial pollution has caused "hundreds of thousands" of premature deaths and serious respiratory illnesses.

Fossil fuel combustion has been identified as a significant contributor to air pollution in China, with fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) being a primary concern. Exposure to PM 2.5 from the burning of fossil fuels has had deadly consequences, with an estimated 8.7 million deaths globally in 2018, as per a study published in Environmental Research. China, in particular, has been heavily impacted by this type of pollution, with nearly five million premature deaths in the country and India combined, as indicated by a 2015 study by the Global Burden of Disease.

The air quality in Beijing and other major Chinese cities often exceeds the standards set by the World Health Organization due to emissions from coal-fired power plants and vehicles. The situation has become so severe that people in Beijing have started wearing masks to protect themselves from the harmful effects of air pollution. The Chinese government has implemented measures to address this issue, such as launching a four-color alert system in 2013 based on the air quality index (AQI). However, the alert levels were raised in 2016, indicating the persistence of the problem.

China's annual CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement production have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, with only brief interruptions due to economic slowdowns or pandemic-related restrictions. The power sector is the second-largest emitter of CO2 in China, and other sectors such as cement and steel production have also contributed significantly to the country's emissions. However, there is hope for improvement, as China has made considerable progress in reducing its fossil fuel emissions. Between 2012 and 2018, the country lowered its fossil fuel PM 2.5 emissions by approximately 44%, resulting in the saving of around 1.5 million lives annually.

Industrial pollution

China's environmental crisis is the result of decades of rapid industrialization, threatening the health and livelihoods of the country's 1.4 billion people and the global fight against climate change. As the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, China suffers from notoriously poor air quality. Its carbon-intensive industries have also caused water scarcity and soil contamination.

Since the Industrial Revolution, air pollution has been a major concern for human growth. A survey in China found that due to serious contamination of China's waterways by industrial discharges, many are unfit for direct human use. However, the report acknowledged that environmental regulations and industrial reforms have had a positive impact, and continued reforms are likely to reduce industrial pollution.

Industrial development has brought both opportunities and challenges to China since the reform and opening-up period that began in 1978. Rapid industrialization has put eastern China under severe pollution stress, with aquatic and soil ecosystem degradation observed from the species to the ecosystem level.

China's industrial output for products like steel, cement, automobiles, electronics, and ships has grown significantly, ranking first in the world. This growth has resulted in increased pollutants, with industrial solid waste, wastewater, waste gas, and wastewater discharge being key issues. China's mandates to clean water and air in counties and cities in 2007 caused a significant reduction in pollutant emission intensities. However, industrial pollution mitigation in the eastern and central regions has been neglected since 2021, as economic growth took priority.

China's economic growth has come at high environmental and health costs. Industrial firms discharge inorganic compounds and toxic gases into the water, resulting in serious water and air contamination. Over 3 million Chinese families lack access to clean water, and one-third of the water systems are below safety standards. Health risks associated with industrial pollution include increased cardiorespiratory and digestive cancer mortality rates.

Water quality

China's rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization, coupled with inadequate investment in basic water supply and treatment infrastructure, have resulted in widespread water pollution. Continuous emissions from manufacturing are the largest contributor to lowered drinking water quality across the country. However, the introduction of poorly treated sewage, industrial spills, and extensive use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides have also proven to be major contributors.

In 2006, a Chinese Embassy report in the UK stated that approximately 300 million people nationwide lacked access to clean water. This figure was supported by Chinese environmental activist and journalist Ma Jun, who warned in the same year that 300 million peasants' drinking water was unsafe. According to Ma, the drying up of surface water in the north had led to over-extraction of underground water, and the situation was unsustainable.

A 2008 report about the Yellow River, one of the world's longest waterways, argued that severe pollution caused by factory discharges and sewage from rapidly expanding cities had made one-third of the river unusable even for agricultural or industrial use. The report found that 33.8% of the river system registered worse than level five, which according to the UN Environment Program criteria, is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use, and even agriculture.

China's water pollution problem is not limited to rivers but also affects lakes. Lake Tai, China's third-largest freshwater lake, has been under assault since the 1950s by dams, pesticides, fertilizers, and chemical factories built on its shores. In 2007, large algae blooms covered parts of Lake Tai, making the water undrinkable and producing a terrible stench. This affected the residents of Wuxi, who rely on Lake Tai for their drinking water, causing a hoarding of bottled water.

China's water pollution crisis continues in its major cities. In 2015, 85% of the water in Shanghai's major rivers was undrinkable, and 56.4% was unfit for any purpose. In Beijing, 39.9% of water was so polluted that it was essentially functionless, and in Tianjin, only 4.9% of water is usable as a drinking water source.

Air quality monitoring

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a widely used metric for assessing the healthiness of the air in a specific location. It is calculated based on the concentration of various pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). PM2.5, particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, pose the greatest danger to human health as they can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

In 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing began monitoring the city's air quality and publicly disclosing the data, prompting China to strengthen its standards for air quality monitoring. This led to the development of the Beijing four-color alert system in 2013, which was revised in 2016 to standardize alert levels across multiple cities. The system is based on the AQI and helps citizens protect themselves from harmful air pollution.

China has also adopted the Environmental Air Quality Standards, which have proven effective in reducing PM2.5 and SO2 levels between 2013 and 2018. The Chinese government has invested heavily in combating pollution, pledging over $277 billion in 2013. Additionally, the country has focused on emission control strategies to address the issue of acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide (SO2) and reduce the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

Real-time air pollution data is now available for China and over 100 other countries through platforms like GAIA air quality monitors, the World Air Quality Index project, and mobile applications such as ZephAir. These tools provide citizens with reliable information about air quality, enabling them to take necessary precautions to protect their health.

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