北京空气污染治理显现成效

Drastic measures to cut pollution in the areas around Beijing during the final months of 2017 have led to unusually clear air in the capital, offsetting the effect of a nationwide economic recovery, according to new data.

根据最新数据，2017年最后几个月在北京周边地区采取的削减污染的严厉措施，已给中国首都带来异常清新的空气，抵消了全国经济复苏的影响。

Authorities closed factories and forbade residents in provinces neighbouring Beijing from using coal to heat their homes during winter, in a last-ditch effort to meet emissions-cutting targets for 2017.

作为达到2017年减排目标的最后努力，当局关闭了一些工厂，还禁止北京周边省份的居民在冬季烧煤取暖。

Beijing also ejected hundreds of thousands of migrants workers and razed several neighbourhoods ringing the city. Poor-quality coal briquettes used to heat villages and slum neighbourhoods account for half of coal consumption in Beijing and surrounding regions in the winter.

北京还赶走数十万进城务工人员，并拆除了该市周边的多个棚户区。乡村和棚户区居民用来取暖的劣质煤饼，占北京及周边地区冬季煤炭消费量的一半。

As a result, emissions of PM2.5 — a measure of tiny particulates in the air — fell 33 per cent in the region around Beijing during the final quarter of 2017 compared with the same period the previous year, according to a study by Greenpeace, the campaign group. The fall came despite recovering growth and higher energy usage.

其结果是，根据活动组织绿色和平(Greenpeace)的一项研究，2017年最后一季度北京周边地区PM2.5水平(空气中细微颗粒物含量的衡量标准)比上年同期下降33%。这一下降是在经济恢复增长、能源使用量增加的背景下实现的。

But nationally, PM2.5 levels fell just 4.5 per cent in 2017 compared with 2016, as much polluting activity was merely shifted elsewhere in China. Other measures to reduce particulates in the air included placing covers on construction sites and fuel restrictions.

但在全国范围，2017年PM2.5水平仅比2016年下降4.5%，因为很大一部分造成污染的活动只是转移到了中国其他地方。减少空气中颗粒物污染的其他措施包括覆盖建筑工地和实行燃料限制措施。

The government pulled out the stops to meet its targets because 2017 was the last of a five-year anti-pollution campaign, noted Yang Fuqiang, senior adviser at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

环保组织自然资源保护委员会(Natural Resources Defense Council)的高级顾问杨富强指出，由于2017年是为期五年的治理污染行动的最后一年，政府为了达到目标而竭尽全力。

New targets for upcoming years are expected to be even stricter, he said, adding: “The government has realised that it can achieve good results as long as it is devoted to solving the problem.”

他表示，预计未来几年的新目标将会更加严格，并补充说：“政府已经意识到，只要致力于解决这个问题，它能取得不错的结果。”

Before the implementation of drastic measures to lower industrial pollution, PM2.5 levels in the region surrounding Beijing had increased 6 per cent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2017.

在采取严厉措施降低工业污染之前，北京周边地区的PM2.5水平在2017年前三个季度同比上升6%。

The clearer air has been noticeable in Beijing, despite popular outrage at the sudden and sometimes violent eviction of migrants. Normally the Beijing winter is marked by bouts of choking smog.

在北京，空气已经明显更清新了，尽管市民们对突然且有时暴力的清退务工人员的行动感到愤慨。正常情况下，北京的冬天被令人喘不过气的雾霾笼罩。

“I’ve never seen Beijing like this!” said French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday at the end of a three-day state visit to China. He praised Beijing’s action to close its factories: “It shows they have a capacity that is rapid, even brutal.”

“我从来没有见过北京这样!”法国总统埃马纽埃尔•马克龙(Emmanuel Macron)周三在结束三天访华之行时表示。他赞扬北京关闭工厂的行动：“这表明他们有一种快速、甚至残酷的能力。”

Mr Macron has hailed China’s support of the Paris accord in which nations pledged measures to limit emissions and avert climate change. China expects its carbon emissions to grow until 2030.

马克龙赞扬了中国对巴黎气候变化协定的支持，在该协定的框架下，各国承诺采取措施限制排放以遏制气候变化。中国预计其碳排放量要到2030年才能见顶。

However, in 2012 it revealed a complex national plan to wean industry in the north China plain off coal, and shift factories on to the national power grid.

然而，中国在2012年公布了一份复杂的全国计划，拟让华北平原的工业摆脱对煤炭的依赖，并将工厂接入国家电网。

But Beijing’s action to eliminate coal-burning sources, including industrial boilers and residential heating stoves, was not matched by the rollout of new gas infrastructure.

但是，北京在消除燃煤来源(包括工业锅炉和居民取暖炉)的同时，未能确保新的天然气基础设施建设到位。

This resulted in a spike in gas prices and the government responded by limiting gas use throughout central China before relenting and allowing rural residents to heat their homes with coal.

这导致天然气价格上涨，作为回应，政府在整个华中地区限制天然气使用量，之后又放松规定，允许农村居民烧煤取暖。

The government has now offered additional incentives, including loans from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to extend the natural gas infrastructure. The anti-pollution plan is expected to increase China’s gas use significantly over the long term.

政府现在提供额外激励，包括来自亚洲基础设施投资银行(AIIB)的贷款，以扩建天然气基础设施。长期而言，预计治理污染的计划将显著增加中国的天然气使用量。