A woman in Beijing enjoys clear skies with the density of PM2.5 in the city only 0.1 micrograms per cubic meter. Netizens dubbed it as "Beijing cubic meter blue." Photo: IC

 

Beijing has made great achievements in ecological civilization over the past years, with all major ambient air pollutants in 2021 reaching national air quality standards for the first time, a report delivered to the 13th Beijing Municipal Party Congress said. 

Cai Qi, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Beijing Municipal Committee delivered the report to the 13th Beijing Municipal Party Congress. The report said, "in the past five years, the ecological civilization has been greatly prompted which brings sharp improvement on environment quality." 

It goes in detail on how the city dealt with air pollution with the annual average density of PM2.5 in 2021 dropping to 33 micrograms per cubic meter, down 43.1 percent from 2017, meeting the national air quality standard for the first time, and allowing citizens to enjoy more blue skies and white clouds.

Previous data released by the Beijing municipal ecology and environment bureau in 2021 showed other key air pollution readings, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone, all reached the national standards during the period.

The tally days for having a good air quality in 2021 was 288. "Beijing blue" became a normality and was hailed as "Beijing miracle" by the United Nations Environment Program, according to the Beijing municipal ecology and environment bureau.

The report delivered by Cai also said besides the improving air quality, the water storage capacity of Miyun reservoir reached a record high, and the ground water level in plain area rose for 6 consecutive years. Beijing also completed its new round of large-scale afforestation, with the city's forest coverage rate reaching 44.6 percent. 

Meanwhile, China National Botanical Garden was officially inaugurated in Beijing in April, 2022, the report said. 

With more than 30,000 kinds of plants and 5 million representative plant specimens from five continents, the arboretum is a significant symbol of the country's sustainable development level, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Global Times