Smog-hit Beijing shuts roads, playgrounds, as coal use rises

BEIJING, Nov 05 (AFP): Highways and school playgrounds in Beijing were closed Friday due to heavy pollution, as China ramps up coal production and faces scrutiny of its environmental record at make-or-break international climate talks.

World leaders have gathered in Scotland this week for COP26 negotiations billed as one of the last chances to avert catastrophic climate change, though Chinese President Xi Jinping made a written address instead of attending in person.

China -- the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change -- has ramped up coal output after supply chains in recent months were roiled by an energy crunch owing to strict emissions targets and record prices for the fossil fuel.

A thick haze of smog blanketed swathes of northern China on Friday, with visibility in some areas reduced to less than 200 metres (yards), according to the country's weather forecaster.

Schools in the capital -- which will host the Winter Olympics in February -- were ordered to stop physical education classes and outdoor activities.

Stretches of highways to major cities including Shanghai, Tianjin and Harbin were closed due to poor visibility.

Pollutants detected Friday by a monitoring station at the US embassy in Beijing reached levels defined as "very unhealthy" for the general population.

Levels of small particulate matter, or PM 2.5, which penetrate deep into the lungs and cause respiratory illnesses, hovered around 230 -- far above the WHO recommended limit of 15.

Authorities in Beijing blamed the pollution on a combination of "unfavourable weather conditions and regional pollution spread" and said the smog was likely to persist until at least Saturday evening.

But the "root cause of smog in north China is fossil fuel burning," said Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy manager Danqing Li.

China generates about 60 percent of its energy from burning coal. China has increased coal output to ease an energy shortage that had forced factories to close in recent months.

A Reuters report adds: New Delhi residents woke up on Friday under a blanket of smog darkening the city, the most dangerous air pollution of the year after Diwali revellers defied - as usual - a fireworks ban during India's annual Hindu festival of lights.

New Delhi has the worst air quality of all world capitals, but even by its sorry standards Friday's reading - the morning after the end of Diwali - was extra bad, the price for celebrating India's biggest festival in the noisiest and smokiest way.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) surged to 463 on a scale of 500 - the maximum recorded in 2021, indicating "severe" conditions that affect even healthy people let alone those with existing respiratory diseases.

The AQI measures the concentration of poisonous particulate matter PM2.5 in a cubic metre of air. In Delhi, a city of nearly 20 million people, the PM2.5 reading on Friday averaged 706 micrograms, whereas the World Health Organization deems anything above an annual average of 5 micrograms as unsafe.

Parts of India recorded dangerously high levels of air pollution on Friday, a day after the Diwali festival as people celebrated with late night fireworks despite a ban in multiple states.