Chinese Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Up 1.2% YOY - Govt "Not Optimistic" On Potential Cuts

[hatrack]

BEIJING -- A key air pollutant has increased in China this year, highlighting the serious challenges faced by the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases as it tries to curb pollution, a senior Chinese official said Thursday.

Sulfur dioxide emissions rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, the first such increase since 2007, Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, told a news conference. "This sounded the alarm for our emissions reduction work and showed that the situation is not very optimistic," he said.

Zhang attributed the sulfur dioxide rise to a rapid increase in the manufacture of energy-intensive industrial products - those made in coal-fired factories like cement, aluminum and steel - as China rebounds from the global downturn. Industrial output was up 19 percent in the first quarter over the same period last year as the country's economy expanded.

Zhang also cited a decline in attention to pollution by local governments and companies and a drought in southwestern China.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060300851.html

[David__77]

1. They better put more resources into controlling this.

It is definitely affecting worker health which in turn affects productivity. The case can be made at all levels. Though they are succeeding in reducing pollution relative to production, because the economy is expanding so quickly, pollution is still increasing. Not good enough.