Beicology: Can Beijing Beat the Heat and Stave Off Global Warming?

Stats about smog tend to dominate the headlines in Beijing, but it's not the only ecological factor to consider. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is zeroing in on the temperature of the Chinese capital and that of other major cities to help raise awareness about climate change and emission reduction.

A while back, WWF Tweeted the above graphic, which states that the capital's average temperature has already warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius, detailing that Beijing has warmed .2 degrees over the threshold 1.5 degrees Celsius that the world needs to remain under in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. That new warming limit was determined in a widely discussed report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this fall, which warned about the obliteration of coral reefs, rising sea levels, huge losses to small-scale fisheries, and other global natural disasters if officials don’t take drastic steps toward renewable energy. It also says that unless China (and the world) makes radical environmental changes, temperatures will continue to rise to a whopping 6.1 degrees Celcius (as if spending July on a bike wasn't bad enough already).

Other environmental organizations concur. Chief among them: Greenpeace, where spokesperson Shuo Li said WWF's Tweet about Beijing had a "key point: cities play a very important role, particularly in China because the urbanization rate is definitely growing so quickly.” She says the smog-spouting refinery stacks and cars that we see out of our windows shouldn’t warrant all the attention when another culprit lies much closer to home. “There is still a big deficit in energy efficiency in our homes and offices. Beijing buildings should have better insulation,” she adds, adding that low carbon energy sources like solar panels strapped atop those better-insulated buildings would be an even greater improvement.

WWF spokesperson Linda Zhen agrees, pointing out that cities are the primary producers of carbon dioxide emissions, releasing 70 percent of the world's total. Those pollutants will only grow, said Zhen, if 60 percent of the world’s population migrates to cities by 2030, as experts project.

Despite these frightening figures, experts at WWF say Beijingers should not despair. In fact, Zhen told the Beijinger there is plenty of hope underlying China’s pollution issues: “As the biggest emitter, China has shown leadership tackling climate change ... the energy transition is happening in China. China has accelerated the adjustment of its industry and energy structures and invested greatly in improving energy efficiency and lowering carbon emissions.”

Zhen added that environmentalists are heartened by how 2017’s average concentrations of PM10 (which along with PM2.5 is one of the fine particles that is particularly detrimental to health) dropped by 22 percent in 330 Chinese cities, blasting well past the 10 percent goal set out by officials. Beijingers, in particular, should be proud according to Zhen because “the average concentration of PM2.5 was reduced to 58 micrograms per cubic meter last year from close to 90 in 2013” in the Chinese capital. 

Li said the bad press that Beijing has undergone for its smog in recent years has already motivated the capital to adopt more eco-friendly policies. Furthermore, he said measures like restrictions on traffic and the further promotion of electric cars will better help the city ward off emissions and ensuing climate change.

Tough as it will be to ensure the Chinese capital cuts its emissions enough to stay under the IPCC's 1.5 degree Celsius limit, Li concludes: “I think Beijing is in a very good position in terms of leading this environmentally friendly transformation.”

READ: how one frustrated restauranteur transformed an abandoned plot of land into a thriving urban garden.

Photos: Carbon Brief, WWF, Straits Times, Reuters