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By: Mallica JoshiNEW DELHI: How did Beijing go from being the ‘smog capital of the world' to footnotes in research papers on tackling air pollution? China has lessons for India.In a series of posts on X, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in India, Yu Jing laid out the path that Beijing followed to drastically improve air quality. "Both China and India know the struggle with air pollution amid rapid urbanization. While the challenge remains complex, China's sustained efforts over the past decade have delivered noticeable improvements..." Jing posted.Beijing's annual PM 2.5 average in 2013 was 101.7 ug/m3. In 2024, it stood at 30.9 ug/m3.In her posts that followed, Jing spoke about the steps taken in transport and industry sectors that led to better air. "How did Beijing tackle air pollution? Step 1: Vehicle emissions control. Adopt ultra-strict regulations like China 6NI (on par with Euro 6). Phase-out retired old, high-emission vehicles. Curb car growth via license-plate lotteries and odd-even / weekday driving rules. Build one of the world's largest metro and bus networks. Accelerate the shift to electric mobility. Work with the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region on coordinated emissions cuts.
Cleaner air doesn't happen overnight—but it is achievable," she said.Addressing air pollution from industry, Jing said, "Step 2: Industrial Restructuring. Shut down or remove 3000+ heavy industries. Relocating Shougang, one of China's largest steelmakers, alone cut inhalable particles by 20%. Transform vacated factories into parks, commercial zones, cultural and tech hubs. Example, the former Shougang site became the 2022 Winter Olympics venue.
Relieve non-capital functions by relocating wholesale markets, logistics hubs and some educational and medical institutions.
Coordinate regional integration by shifting general manufacturing to Hebei, while retaining high-value R&D and services in Beijing."These interventions are not unheard of in India. Cleaner fuel for vehicles as well as industry, a curb on growth of private vehicles and robust public transport have been part of discussions for at least a decade.According to experts, the difference is in the scale and seriousness of the action."In China, action was not taken just in Beijing but in 26 cities and towns to tackle the problem, which is regional. The first lesson is that the actions they took were urgent, stringent, and at a large scale. They took deep to enable massive energy transition, like getting rid of coal not only in industry but also in household use. Beijing also capped the number of cars that can be sold in a year even as it created infrastructure for public transport.
We will find similarities in our plans for Delhi-NCR but the scale is missing," said Anumita Roy Chaudhuri, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre For Science and Environment.She also said action in Delhi is taken only during air emergencies."We can't have just emergency measures. The implementation of these actions has to be round-the clock," she said.Sunil Dahiya, Founder and Lead Analyst at the think tank EnviroCatalyst, said, "We already have BS6, which is equivalent to Euro 6, and the latest decision on not allowing BS VI or below vehicles in Delhi seems to be in the right direction.
All the steps suggested for vehicular pollution were tried in India, but they didn't work only because there wasn't a political will."On industrial pollution, Dahiya said shifting or removing all industries to a different region might be difficult as we are dealing with the livelihood of people residing in several states. "We can instead come up with better facilities. For instance, small and medium enterprises or manufacturing units mostly use undesignated fuel and lack air pollution control devices. We can introduce better mechanisms with common pollution control devices, emission control devices, and restructuring industrial clusters," he said, adding that since 2019, no strict measures have been taken against power plants.
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