"This graph shows the Beijing PM2.5 index during January 2013" "In just one month, there were 25 days of smog" "I was in Beijing at that time and as I looked back on this curve over the course of that year," "I tried to recall the senses and emotions" "But I couldn't" "At that time everyone said the haze was caused by random weather patterns" "Hardly anyone took it seriously" "In that month, I made four business trips:" "To Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang" "Looking back at the sky of these trips, it seems like China at that time was immersed in smog blanketing 25 provinces and 600 million people" "I was right in the middle of it, but I didn't even realize it" "But the sensation in my throat remained" "When I was in Xi'an, I was coughing so badly that I couldn't even sleep" "I cut up a lemon and put it beside my pillow" "When I returned to Beijing," "I discovered that I was pregnant" "This is what she looked like the first time I saw her" "At that moment, I knew she must be a girl" "Because it looked like she had a girl's haircut" "When I heard her heartbeat for the first time," "There was nothing I wanted more than for her to be healthy" "But she was diagnosed with a benign tumor which would require surgery immediately after birth" "Before the anaesthesia, the doctor told me" ""Your baby is so young that there is a possibility she won't survive the general anaesthetic." "You need to be mentally prepared for it."" "Before I could even hold her, she was carried off to the operating room" "After that, the nurse gave me a toy bear which she used to comfort children" "Instead, she used it to comfort me" "When I saw my little angel after the surgery, she was still unconscious" "The doctor said," ""The operation was very successful." "But there is one thing you have to forgive me for:" "She is so chubby that it took several attempts to find a vein for the anesthetic."" "I took her tiny hand, full of needle marks, and I held it to my face" "I called her name until she opened her eyes and looked at me" "I'm a very lucky person" "After that, I quit my job so I could spend my time keeping her company and looking after her" "As long as we are all together, safe and sound, nothing else matters" "But already on our way home from the hospital, I started to feel scared" "The smell of black smoke and burning fire was everywhere" "I covered her nose with my handkerchief" "I know how stupid that seems, since in her struggle to breathe through it, she would just breathe in more smog" "Before that moment, I'd never been afraid of air pollution and I'd never worn a filter mask" "But now, there is a little life in your arms her breathing, eating and drinking are all on your shoulders" "That's when you begin to feel afraid" "That severe smog at the end of 2013 lasted about two months" "The continuing smog made me feel like it was more than just a random occurrence and that it couldn't possibly be over quickly" "It was the same sky that I saw ten years ago, when I was in Shanxi" "2004 interview" "Chai: "Is it like this every day?"" "Boy: "Every day of every year, it's like this!" "It's lasted for three years now, not just a day or two."" ""Benzopyrene is a powerful carcinogen" "As time goes on, it accumulates in one's body" "Once enough of it accumulates, it increases a person's risk of getting cancer."" "Rivers in Shanxi: 88.4% are polluted, 62% are no longer usable" "Chai: "Sir, do you think this is still a river?"" "Wang: "It's not river water, it's wastewater." "Tests show that the annual average benzopyrene level here is 290 times above the regulatory limit."" "Abandoned mine area:" "Ground water levels have fallen; environmental crisis is imminent" "Person: "All of the trees over there died." "Those two big trees there have completely split open."" "Chai: "Have you ever seen a real star before?"" "Wang Huiqing: "No, I haven't."" "Chai: "What about blue sky?"" "Wang Huiqing: "I've seen one that's a little blue."" "Chai: "What about white clouds?"" "Wang Huiqing: "No, I haven't."" "When I interviewed this six-year-old girl in 2004, it didn't cross my mind at all that what she said could be the same experience my daughter would have" "These photos show each day of 2014 in Beijing" "Only when the air quality was good would I dare take my daughter outside with me" "But how many good days were there?" "175 were polluted" "That means that in one year, half of the time I had no choice but to keep her at home like a prisoner" "Ten years ago, the director of the Environmental Protection Bureau told me," ""Xiaoyi is a microcosm of Shanxi;" "Shanxi is a microcosm of China."" "In just a decade," "I've looked on helplessly as this has come true" "In March-April 2014 46 photographers" "Recorded images of the sky for 40 consecutive days" "Tianjin - 197 polluted days in 2014" "Shenyang - 152 polluted days in 2014" "Chengdu - 125 polluted days in 2014" "Lanzhou - 112 polluted days in 2014" "Shijiazhuang - 264 polluted days in 2014" "I once watched a TV series titled "Under the Dome"" "It was about a small town suddenly enclosed by a dome that appeared out of nowhere" "Cut off from the world, no way out" "But one day, I realized that we're all living in the same reality" "Sometimes, when I get up in the morning," "I see my daughter standing in front of our balcony smacking the glass window" "This is her method of telling me that she wants to go outside" "I think, one day, she will ask me" "Mama, why do you keep me shut inside?" "What is really out there?" "Will anything hurt me?" "Everything I have done throughout this year is to answer the questions she will ask me in the future" "What is smog?" "Where does it come from?" "What can we do about it?" "So, what is the smog?" "Sometimes, I turn off the light" "I want to see it" "I know that PM2.5 is here" "They're airborne particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers" "So they reflect a large amount of visible light, leaving us in a world with very low visibility" "However, I can't see them because the smallest particle the naked eye can see is twenty times bigger" "In other words, this is a war against an invisible enemy" "There's only one way to see them" "It's this" "This is a PM2.5 sampling device" "I put a very clean sampling filter into the machine and carried it for 24 hours" "November 26th, 2014" " AQI: 282" "This is what the filter looked like at the very beginning, right?" "After 24 hours it looked like this" "If I don't do anything to protect my child she will breathe in all of this stuff" "How much will she breathe in?" "305.91 micrograms per cubic meter" "But who can understand a number like this, right?" "We can only compare it." "(Chart:" "Limits for concentrations of PM 2.5, 24-hour average)" "This is the WHO standard for maximum PM2.5 per day" "This is the standard in the United States" "This is the standard in Europe and this is the standard in China" "How much did we breathe in on that day?" "Almost 5 times China's maximum limit" "Although it sounds like that was just one slightly alarming number" "I really wanted to know what substances were actually in that sample" "Prof. Qiu Xinhua from Peking University was kind enough to run this test for me" "Here are the results of his analysis:" "It contains 15 types of carcinogens including benzo[a]pyrene, one of the world's strongest carcinogens" "How many times the standard was there?" "14 times the government standard" "I couldn't believe this number" "Do you remember, in that clip, when I was standing in Xiaoyi, surrounded by coal plants?" "The amount of Benzo[a]pyrene I was breathing there was only 9 times the legal standard" "Nowadays, I live in the center of an international metropolis" "When I look around, I can't see a single factory or chimney" "So how can it possibly be 14 times the legal limit?" "Professor Qiu doubted the results too" "He said "It doesn't seem possible to be that high." "I'll run it again."" "He called me the next day and told me" ""There was no mistake; it is 14 times the limit."" ""Our wider sampling showed there are some people whose exposure was even higher than yours--20 times the legal limit."" "All these carcinogens were stuck to the sampling filter you saw before attached to a substance called black carbon" "It's tiny, only 0.2 micrometers" "But it has a chain structure, so if it is unraveled two grams is the size of a basketball court" "Because of this, it can absorb many carcinogens and heavy metal particles" "How much black carbon is there in China?" "This is NASA's estimate from 2009" "That bright purple and white spot is China" "It drifts above us like a ghost" "So I went to Peking University" "I know that they have a lab for these experiments" "I asked an expert if I could volunteer" ""If you put me in a closed chamber with a high concentration of black carbon and observe and test my physical reactions," "I can show everyone the results."" "He hesitated for a while and answered" ""I'm sorry." "I cannot do this experiment."" "I asked why." "He said, "Every experiment requires academic ethical thresholds." "The thresholds should prevent extreme harm to the participants." "I cannot run an experiment with these thresholds" "Even if the concentration in the air outdoors is higher than in the test chamber."" ""To put it another way, each of us is living in an experimental chamber our entire life and we don't know what the outcome of the experiment will be."" "Peking University used a different approach" "They logged how people physically react to polluted air directly" "For one year, I participated in this experiment" "This is what I found:" "I have chronic respiratory inflammation and belong to a sensitive population group" "Fine particles impact the respiratory system, exacerbate inflammation of the respiratory tract and affect the entire cardiovascular system" "Tiny particles correlate with a higher possibility of heart failure due to reduced cardiac blood supply" "I don't really understand what the medical jargon means" "Therefore with the help of the scientists we made an animation to explain the effect" "I am PM 2.5" "I have lots of brothers and sisters" "Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other heavy metal particles" "Each of bearing weapons" "In the game of attacking human bodies" "I rarely miss" "Scene 1:" "Nostril" "Nose hairs and mucus can block large particles." "90% of particles are bigger than 10 microns and get killed in action" "But they cannot stop me" "Scene 2:" "Throat" "The upper respiratory tract has cilia that are only 10 microns long" "They beat 20 times a second, but I pass through them with ease" "The smooth muscles of the trachea become irritated, contract and try to block me, but this bullying can't stop me" "Scene 3:" "Lower respiratory tract" "Here the bronchi branch out like a tree into small bronchioles" "These are the best ski slopes for us" "We fight with leukocytes and lymphocytes along the way" "These fights will cause all kinds of inflammation in the human body" "Our troop finally reaches our destination:" "the tree-tip like alveoli" "The human lung has more than 300 million alveoli" "If we block the alveoli, the human won't be able to breathe anymore" "However, our most ferocious enemy is here: the macrophages" "Their specialty is gobbling up foreign material and are known as the body's street sweepers" "This is going to be a tough battle." "However we outnumber them our core is difficult to break down, and and we contain toxic heavy metals" "Macrophages cannot neutralize all of us and can be easily killed by over-consumption" "This is how the human immune system breaks down" "We have another special force:" "particles less than 0.5 microns" "Once in the alveoli, they are small enough to pass the membranes into blood vessels damaging the blood vessel lining and causing arteries to narrow which causes high blood pressure and thrombosis" "We can even enter the core of human bodies through the pulmonary circulation system and attack your heart causing myocardial ischemia and irregular heartbeat which leads to heart attacks" "Be terrified, humans" "We're in every breath you take." "These measurements were provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences" "This complex plot demonstrates that as the concentration of PM2.5 increases, the human mortality rate also increases" "Many other scientific research institutions have observed the same trend" "The former Chinese health minister Chen Zhu has calculated that the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution in China each year is" "500,000 people" "In this battle against human beings, the most fragile and vulnerable populations are our children and parents" "These babies are about 2 months old" "They have never been outside but they have been diagnosed with pneumonia" "Here they are receiving nebulizer therapy" "The parents of these babies asked me to photograph their children they suspected their children became sick due to lack of protection during heavy smog" "The doctor told them:" ""I can only render a diagnosis of 'Pneumonia of unknown cause' because of the lack of current epidemiological studies." "But I can tell you this statistic:" "In January of 2013 during the heavy smog, throughout the entire country," "27 cities showed exponential increases in emergency department visits."" "The mothers in my community discussed about this event once" "One mother asked me:" ""How should we deal with the smog?" "Should we expose our kids to the smog as soon as possible to train them, so they adapt and aren't disadvantaged from the very beginning?" "A medical expert from Los Angeles, a city that once suffered from extreme air pollution, informed us about the risks of exposing our children to air pollution in hopes that they would be able to adapt to the conditions:" "I don't think we have any information that suggests that exposing your child to air pollution is going to help them to adapt." "If we expose them on day one, they lose some function." "If they expose them on day two, they don't lose the same amount." "But that's because, not that they have adapted, but because they've already lost the function, and they already are injured." "It has been shown in several studies around the world now, that children in cleaner places grow faster than children growing up in a more polluted area." "Poor lung function early in life is a predictor of lung problems later on in life." "And so, doing something about the air while a child is growing" "You can make a change in that child's life." "This is downstairs from where I live and I took this photo two days ago in severe smog" "The AQI (air quality index) on that day had exceeded 500, above the "hazardous" pollution level" "However, the kids in the adjacent elementary school were still outside playing ball games, running and playing around" "When people exercise they breathe five to ten times more deeply than usual" "When I saw this, I became aware of the fact that" "I couldn't protect my child under all circumstances" "Someday she will have to go into society and breathing is something she will always do, something that is inevitable." "And it (PM2.5) is there in every breath you take" "An adult person like ourselves breathes roughly 25000 times each day" "Over time, as it accumulates continuously, what are these substances like in our lungs?" "We are very grateful to a patient and doctor at Beijing Cancer Hospital who agreed to let us film this surgery" "This is a patient with early stage lung cancer" "Female, in her fifties and works in the hospital's accounting office" "She and her family have no history of smoking" "The following clip was filmed with the permission of the patient's family and the hospital" "The following scenes might cause discomfort for some viewers, please use discretion" "Inside the lung cavity" "Everyone will breathe in these black spots" "Including ourselves" "Does this person smoke?" "No, she doesn't smoke" "But she's from (censored) city" "From your hometown" "The air quality is really bad" "Yeah, it's not clean (there)" "So this (might be) the stuff that's in the air" "Pulmonary lymph node color - carbon particle build up over time has turned it completely black" "In her entire body only the lymph nodes in her lungs are black" "This is because she has inhaled a lot of dust" "The lymphatic system is crucial for immune system functionality" "Yang Yue, Director of the Peking University Cancer Hospital Second Thoracic Department" "Which means it helps our immune system fight disease" "When the black stuff on top accumulates does it affect our body's ability to fight cancerous cells?" "It may be the case that it has overburdened the lymphatic system" "So this year the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that chronic lung diseases are one of the highest risk factors for lung cancer" "We can be comforted by the fact that this type of surgery is very successful and the patient can make a full recovery after the tumors have been extracted" "After extracting the black lymph nodes, the doctor presented them to the patient's family" "They asked: "Can you tell me why my wife got cancer?"" "He said, "I can only say That according to my clinical experience" "I suspect it was because of air pollution." "(As particulate matter increases and air pollution worsens, so to does the risk of lung cancer, and particle matter is classified as a primary carcinogen for humans.)" "When he told me this I had a questoin" "Doesn't lung cancer have an incubation period of at least ten years or so?" "But we only started hearing about air pollution two years ago, right?" "Then how could it lead to lung cancer this quickly?" "So I went to NASA for a small favor and asked if they could send over satellite images of the air over North China from the past 10 years" "This is what I got 2012" "The air over Beijing 2011" "Beijing in December 2010" "The air over North China 2009" "The air over North China" "Let's look at 10 years ago" "North China in 2005" "But I couldn't believe it" "I was living under these skies in North China at that time" "How could I have been unaware of any air pollution for 10 years?" "So I sought out our country's head of the Olympic air quality assurance group" "An academic named Dr. Tang Xiaoyan" "She gave me this graph" "This is 2004" "Eleven years ago" "Back then, we hadn't yet started monitoring PM2.5 levels" "But we have the levels of PM10" "He said according to estimates at the time" "At that time when it was very polluted" "PM2.5 could have reached 300-400" "Today we would classify that as very unhealthy pollution" "I asked him" "Could it really be that I was that blind?" "I was in Beijing in 2004" "He said, look at this picture" "What is that?" "I said, that's probably smog, right?" "Then how come I didn't know at the time?" "He said, you should look up what the news headlines were on that day" ""Beijing Capital Airport Experiences the Most Delays in Recent Years Due to Fog"" " December 2, 2004, Sina News" "Back then we thought it was just fog" "We kept calling it "fog"" "So after I saw this picture, as a former reporter" "I was full of remorse because all those years I was reporting I always thought that" "I was reporting on pollution across the country" "But I always thought it was only called pollution when I heard explosions in mines it was only called pollution when I saw smoke from factory chimneys" "I never thought that those of us who lived in a metropolitan urban center the sky we saw everyday was also pollution" "At that time I wasn't a reporter anymore" "I had already become a bystander" "But I still had a question" "If it really was like this, when I was young every family was burning kerosene stoves, right?" "Every night we would sleep and awaken to the smell of smoke" "How come I never heard about people back then getting lung cancer?" "I kept asking this question until I met professor He Xingzhou who has been researching this topic for over 30 years" "He gave me a book of data" "This" "A Survey of the Relationship Between Air Pollution and Cause of Death for 26 Chinese cities 1976-1981" "So everyone can see clearly" "I've put the conclusion up on the screen here" "It's very simple" "The air pollution from back then already correlated with death rates from lung cancer" "The air pollution back then was the result of burning coal" "It just happened to be the case that this data was considered internal information at that time" "It wasn't that people at that time couldn't smell the suffocating smoke" "But the warmth and energy that coal brought was more important at the time" "Around 1980, there were 3,700 factories inside Beijing for a large agricultural country eager to develop, smokestacks were a sign of progress" "For some people, they are just two smokestacks" "For some people, they are reference points to direct you home" "We had absolutely no experience or consciousness of pollution" "Nor the ability to control it" "Major pollutants did not have any set standards" "Even though the amount of coal burned was nowhere near the amount we burn today" "The pollution discharged was enormous" "In terms of PM2.5 levels" "In 2006, the average concentration of PM2.5 was higher than it is today" "It was this year that China proposed saving energy and reducing emissions" "And setting standards for sulphur dioxide and other major pollutants" "Afterwards, air pollution started to decrease" "But the amount of fine particles affecting visibility increased" "The amount of days with extremely high pollution increased" "People started feeling strongly about pollution" "Economic development has increased life expectancy in China" "And has brought more ways to recover from illness" "But the risks that come from air pollution have become obvious" "In the past 30 years, the death rate from lung cancer in China has increased by 465%" "Even though smoking and an ageing society" "Are major factors in this statistic" "The clear risk of developing lung cancer that comes from fine particulate matter" "Is receiving increased attention" "Monitoring of PM2.5 levels started in 2012 and" "China implemented its "Air Pollution Prevention Plan"" "As wages increased and information became more transparent" "People's expectations on the environment rose as well" "A person" "Or not even a person" "How should a living organism live?" "When spring arrives, you open your doors the wind blows in" "The smell of flowers fills the air and colors come back to life" "Sometimes when it rains or when it's foggy out" "You can't help but breathe the air deep into your lungs and experience the feeling of small water droplets filling them up" "Both piercingly cold but also pure and fresh" "In autumn you would spend a whole afternoon with a loved one doing absolutely nothing basking lazily in the sun" "In the Winter you would go outside with your kids when it's snowing and she sticks out her tongue and to catch the snowflakes" "You would teach her about nature and the beauty of life" "But now..." "This year, every day when I wake up the first thing I do is check the air quality on my phone" "Because it will determine my whole day" "I rely on a wind from the North West to live my life" "I wear a mask when I go for a walk" "I wear a mask when I go shopping" "I wear a mask when I go to see my friends" "I use tape to cover up every crack of the windows and doors in my house" "When I took my daughter to get vaccinated" "I was afraid even when she smiled at me" "Actually, I not really afraid of death" "I just don't want to live like this" "So whenever someone asks me what are you doing this for?" "I can only tell them" "This is a battle between me and air pollution" "Where does air pollution come from?" "I want to know where it comes from" "I want to understand what is really going on" "I examined a strip of sampling film under a scientist's microscope and I saw what it looked like" "Pollution was not the collection of identical particles that I imagined it to be" "It is a mixture of all sorts of things and being a mixture makes it more poisonous as well as allowing it to spread more rapidly" "Pollutants can chemically react with each other" "The Chinese Academy of Sciences explained the pollution sources to me burning coal, burning oil, burning organic materials industry, farming, chemical fertilizers, dust emission" "Most of these causes are anthropogenic in nature" "If you analyze these factors you will find where most of pollution comes from" "This is the conclusion 60% of the PM2.5 in China comes from burning coal and oil" "That is to say, the burning of fossil fuels" "PM2.5 has existed long before humans" "Volcanic eruptions and forest fires would emit large amounts of fine particulate matter" "Starting from when we discovered how to make fire from wood human activities have contributed to PM2.5" "In the past, the use of coal in large quantities led to serious pollution in England and Germany and when we entered the age of oil, burning oil led to serious pollution in America and Japan" "At this moment there are still many developing countries in the process of industrializing" "India" "Iran" "Pakistan" "Afghanistan" "All face problems with pollution from burning fossil fuels as does China, the country that has developed fastest in the world" "It's large size has led to burning large amounts of both types of fossil fuels" "How much fuel are we actually burning?" "We can see in 2014" "This figure represents the quantities of fossil fuel being burned around the world" "You can see how bright China is" "That bright white and red area, that's our country" "From the image we can see" "China burns from 3-4 times more fossil fuel than Europe" "We have burned so much fossil fuel" "But the thing that surprised me most was that the pollutants from coal and oil can have large-scale chemical reactions" "Wang Yuesi, Du Jiming and Tang Xiaoyan" "We haven't yet dealt with coal pollution and now vehicle pollution has been added to the mix" "The pollution in China right now is basically an overlap of these two types of pollution" "All kinds of particles react with each other in the air" "Air movement has decreased but the same quantity of pollutants remains" "The unfortunate thing is that these pollutants haven't spread out but are instead reacting with each other this is what we call secondary particles" "Complex pollutants absorb adhere collide merge" "They all mix together" "There's no way for us to change natural conditions we can only change ourselves and the way to do that is to reduce emissions" "The whole world needs to burn coal and oil, right?" "So what's wrong with our coal?" "Do you know how much coal China has burned?" "In 2013 we had already burned 3.6 billion tons" "But do you know how much all the other countries in the world have burned?" "We have burned more coal than the rest of the world combined" "The last time a country had this kind of consumption was England in 1860" "But as a result they paid a heavy price" "Deep in an abandoned mine in South Wales lies the heart of England's industrial age" "It used to drive the most powerful empire in the world" "But as a result it also brought this country a frightening black disaster" "These 4 smokestacks are 103 meters tall" "They are the symbols of the industrial age in England" "When the Battersea Power Station was completed in 1930 it would burn approximately 10,000 tons of coal per week to supply one fifth of the electricity for the entire city of London" "You could say that London was eating coal to survive trains, boats, iron, steel, everyday items" "In all of London, it was like millions of micro-volcanoes were all erupting at once" "Since they were burning large quantities of poor quality coal and emitting pollution at low elevations the amount of pollution from family chimneys was double the amount of pollution from industry" "Slowly with time" "London became completely covered in soot" "People wore face masks to go to school" "Wore face masks to go shopping" "Wore facemasks to walk their dogs" "Wore face masks to kiss" "The day of the disaster was December 5, 1952 a cold front stretched across the English Channel and covered the entire river valley of the Thames River" "This kept the smog under the clouds, preventing it from dissipating" "Poison smoke has closed down" "Residents have difficulty in breathing the murky air" "People walking down the street couldn't even see their own feet" "You needed a blind person to lead you home" "Traffic police used large lamps to light themselves up so they wouldn't get hit by cars" "All of London was completely silent" "You could only see ambulances, because they had to bring those whose lives were in danger to the hospital" "But when they were on the road they had to rely on people holding torches to show them the way" "In the end 12,000 people died in the smog" "The lungs of the dead were sampled and close examination confirmed that they died due to prolonged exposure to black carbon, a by-product of burning coal and a short-term overexposure to a high concentration of fine particulate matter containing heavy metals" "The Coalition for Clean Air calculated that the concentration of pollution in London at the time might have surpassed the current pollution in China by a large margin" "Even though PM2.5 was not measured at the time" "But during the Great Smog the concentration of sulfur dioxide was 190 times the WHO standard and exceeded China's PM2.5 standard by an order of magnitude" "In the 1960s, after the Great Smog in London, other countries began to reduce and control their use of coal" "But that was also the time when China started its economic reform" "A country that had been closed and left behind for so many years desperately needed massive amounts of energy to develop" "And it chose to get that energy from coal" "This curve shows coal's growth as an energy source" "India is also on a similar path" "In near future, India will be the world's second largest consumer of coal" "But as of today, India has not yet set standards for emissions of important pollutants in its industries" "India is also a country suffering from severe air pollution" "So where does all this coal end up being used in China?" "Let's take a look at the 3.6 billion tons of coal consumed in 2013 380 million tons was burnt in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei" "Of that 380 million tons, 300 million tons was burnt in Hebei" "I was really surprised because" "I always thought it was us Shanxi people who burnt the most coal" "When did Hebei start burning so much coal?" "Dr. Hao Jiming from Tsinghua University asked me" "Have you seen the world coal and steel production rankings?" "He said that China is in first place" "Hebei is second" "Tangshan is third" "US is fourth (laughter)" "He also added that originally" "Tangshan lied in order to be fifth (laughter)" "Does more coal use and industrialization necessarily mean more pollution?" "Other countries also produce steel" "He said you will understand what I mean if you go to Tangshan" "So, last October together with the MEP North China Supervision Centre we went to Tangshan equipped with drones to take a look at the actual conditions" "Zhang Dawei" " MEP Bureau of Environmental Supervision" "Can you see that smoke over there?" "It's not that clear because of the big smoke" "Visual inspection of emissions from the factory was impossible" "The weather now makes it difficult to see clearly" "Drone inspection failed due to intense smog" "Have a look behind to see if anyone is following us" "The MEP paid an unannounced visit to the factory" "This choking smell of sulfur dioxide must be the smoke" "We can now see that a lot of smoke is leaking around the edges" "This smoke is being emitted without any controls and released into the atmosphere" "Why aren't you using the dust filters?" "We are using them" "Then why is there so much smoke?" "They are operating, see it's being sucked up" "Oh my god, have a look underneath" "I'm going down to see" "This has to be the most dangerous thing I've done in my career, my life" "Oh my god, it's too terrifying" "Stop, stop, stop" "Someone fell" "The person who fell was Inspector Zhang Dawei from the MEP North China Bureau of Environmental Supervision" "We were all scared at the time because there weren't any lights or warning signs in the factory" "There was a pit about 3 meters deep filled with steel and cement" "Dawei wanted to go down and check for emissions from this place and he fell in" "Fortunately he wasn't injured seriously so we took him to the hospital and then back to Beijing that night" "But what surprised me most was we put in so much effort, had so much trouble, and despite finding clear evidence of pollution in the end, this company was not penalized in any way" "I asked Dawei why" "He said, "You should ask my boss"" "Xiong Yuehui" " MEP Department of Science, Technology and Standards" "Over 60% of steel firms have not completed the approval process" "They did not bother to consult environmental protection law but only tried to stop the approval process" "They stopped the approval process whether production is legal or not" "They know there is no chance, so they act with utter recklessness" "Their operations are completely unlicensed" "The inspectors don't even want to go or touch this industry in any way" "Can you really shut them down?" "Can you really stop them?" "Why can't we shut them down?" "You must be kidding" "How many jobs do you create when you produce ten million tons of steel?" "One hundred thousand jobs" "How important is the steel industry in Hebei?" "It's so important that you can't simply shut them down" "This province has a huge amount of heavy industry scattered throughout it, consuming large quantities of coal, without effective pollution controls and the industries can not be forced to shut down" "What are the consequences of this?" "I have a good friend, Hao who was also colleague of mine on News Investigation" "She was the one who went with me ten years ago to Shanxi to report on the local pollution" "She knew I was from Linfen (in Shanxi) and sometimes she would jokingly send me pictures" "She would say, "I heard your hometown is now the most polluted city on the planet."" "I was speechless" "But after 10 years I sent this picture to her" "Let's take a closer look" "Celebrating the fact that our city's air is no longer the most polluted of 74 cities in China (laughter)" "This was a real banner in Hebei" "Unfortunately, this city was once again the most polluted city on the list (3 months later)" "But this kind of joke really makes me sad" "And for people living in Beijing every time the wind blows from the south the pollution from Hebei moves towards us like this" "You can't keep the air out with a wall" "So this what they mean when they say" ""Breath together and live together"" "I have another friend, called Fan" "She is from Jiangsu" "I used to argue with Hao about which province is more polluted, Hebei or Shanxi" "Fan used to say, offhand" ""Well, we southerners don't really have any pollution"" "Now Eastern China also experiences severe pollution" "But Fan was quite surprised" "She said, "It's impossible, at least Eastern China's pollution can't have anything to do with coal because I've never seen coal in my whole life"" "Right" "I showed her this image" "These are the iron and steel factories near your house" "These are power plants near your house" "These are cement factories near your house" "In Jiangsu there's one power plant for every 30 square kilometers" "And what is the current state of emissions from these companies?" "Here we can see their emissions in real time" "The red spots indicate emissions exceeding the standards" "As we zoom in, you can see how many firms in the east are emitting pollutants in excess of the limits" "Among them, Shanghai which burns a lot of coal itself, is burning the largest quantity of coal per unit of area of all the metropolitan cities" "10 kilograms of coal are burned for every square meter of land" "What are the consequences of burning more coal?" "One problem I never thought about is that high quality coal will become increasingly scarce" "Right?" "So what should we do?" "So lower quality coal will become more common" "How low can the quality be?" "This is common coal" "What about this, is this coal too?" "At first I did not think this was coal this must be wood, you can still see the texture and fossils on top" "But people from coal washing factories told me that this is really coal" "It's called lignite, or brown coal" "It's the youngest coal in the world" "It's so young that the level of coalification is extremely low" "When it is burnt, half of it will turn to black smog, floating in the air" "How much brown coal have we used?" "This is a graph of brown coal production in recent years" "And these are the consequences" "On October 21, 2013 on the first day the district heating was turned on in Harbin" "There was so much smog that that PM2.5 index exceeded 1000" "This was how Harbin people spent that day" "I talked with people from Harbin's environmental protection bureau and mentioned that I heard buses got lost over those two days" "He smiled bitterly and said" "Never mind the buses, even our own bureau director got lost (laughter)" "He said when he was inspecting sites on that day nobody recognized him because of the smog" "The smog in Harbin was caused by burning over 20 million tons of brown coal" "Plus, in 2013, several hundred thousand coal burning boilers like these across China did not comply with any environmental standard and were not regulated at all" "The coal was burned and pollutants were emitted and released into the atmosphere" "When you look down from above it was as if 12 million people were buried under cement" "Coal itself does not mean pollution" "Germany also uses brown coal" "But in Germany they first clean and wash the brown coal to improve its quality" "Coal can be cleaned" "The British wash 95% of their coal" "And what about China?" "We wash less than half of our coal" "The other half, nearly several hundred million tons of coal contained the practically useless and highly polluting and inefficient material called ash" "But we transport it with trains, with trucks around the world and burn it in cooking stoves" "Completely useless" "The result is that most of the brown coal is burnt in people's homes" "Even in urban areas in China, one quarter of people burn brown coal" "They don't burn a lot of coal only 20 percent of the country's total but the sulfur dioxide emitted from this burning is equivalent to the emissions from all the power plants together" "That's how much of a difference washing coal can make" "The most terrifying thing is, it's highly toxic" "In Beijing, the toxicity of PM2.5 during winter is far greater than it in summer" "The carcinogen content in winter is 25 times higher than in summer" "Why is PM2.5 so toxic in winter?" "Mostly because people are burning scrap coal" "This type of coal emits an extremely large quantity of carcinogens" "For many years Chinese people have been suffering from the consequences of burning scrap coal" "In Xuanwei (Yunnan) there's a town called Hutou" "Burning scrap coal means it now has one of the highest incidence rates of lung cancer in the world" "This person is in the late stages of lung cancer" "He was coughing up blood" "He was too weak to brush away the mosquitoes so he asked someone to put flypaper on his body" "This old man was photographed with all the people close to him whose lives were taken by lung cancer over these years" "There are even entire families that have been wiped out" "We always hear that that China is still a developing country, and that environmental protection is a luxury we cannot afford" "But it's often the poorest people who suffer the most from pollution" "They are the most likely to be hurt" "They are the ones whose voices need most to be heard" "They need help the most" "These past few years, our coal consumption has been extremely high" "As a result, the quality of the coal we use has decreased" "We also don't wash our coal and there are almost no controls on emissions" "This is the result" "The places in China with the most coal consumption also have the highest concentrations of PM2.5" "I mean, the easiest way to clean up the environment is to lower our consumption of coal to below 2 billion tons" "This will guarantee blue skies" "If we can't reach this goal, we can try to centralize the burning of coal and replace scrap coal burning with use in coal power plants instead" "As a next step, if we still can't accomplish this, we can try to wash the scrap coal we use" "If all the scrap coal is washed, how would that affect emissions?" "It would halve our emissions at the very least" "We can make two changes at present" "First, we must reduce consumption of coal or we can wash our coal" "Article 23 Atmospheric Protection Law" "The government promotes washing and upgrading coal" "Reduction of the sulfur and ash content in coal" "Restrictions on extracting coal with high sulfur and ash content" "Article 1 of the Ten atmosphere protection articles" "Overhaul small-scale coal burners" "Accelerating de-sulfurization and reducing nitrogen compounds and ash" "In 2014, PM2.5 has been reduced 11.1% from its original level in 74 cities but only 8 cities met the standards set by the government" "If we could effectively carry out all of the current environmental protection measures" "Just the ones we already have right now, have them 100% enforced, our ash emission and sulfur dioxide emission would be 60% lower than current levels, our nitrogen oxide emission would be 35% lower" "In order to solve the environmental problem in China first, we need to have better management" "Second, we still need better management" "Third, is still better management" "President Xi Jinping said" ""The dignity of the law depends on its enforcement."" "China took only 30 years to complete an industrialization process that took a hundred years in other countries" "Therefore, on top of the pollution from coal we have to account for the pollution from oil as well" "So what happens to our oil?" "Most of our oil is burnt by vehicles" "In ten years, the number of vehicles in China has increased by about 100 million" "Looking specifically at Beijing in 2010 how many cars were added in that one year?" "800,000 more" "What does 800,000 cars mean?" "If all these cars were placed end-to-end, they would stretch from Beijing to Shenzhen and then back to Beijing" "That's one year's increase" "The result is as follows" "The primary source of PM2.5 within Beijing is these vehicles" "But there is another city that surprised me" "This city is under haze for over 200 days per year" "You can guess which city that is" "Which one?" "Let's try another picture" "Qinghai you say?" "Qingdao?" "Hangzhou" "To be honest I am as shocked as you are because I always thought" "These were the scenes of misty rain described in all those famous poems." "Later I made a call to the Hangzhou MEP and they confirmed this" "Because the rate of vehicle ownership per capita in Hangzhou is the highest among all cities in China" "On average, there is one car for every two people." "So the vehicles of Hangzhou contribute nearly 40% of its air pollution" "Do more cars necessarily mean more pollution?" "Here's a question we often hear" "Aren't there more cars in Tokyo than in Beijing?" "Why don't we see such severe pollution in Tokyo?" "This is the explanation given by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport:" "More than 90% of Tokyo's residents commute by rail" "Less than 6% of them drive" "What about in Beijing?" "34% of Beijing residents drive cars" "And they drive in the city center, usually stuck in traffic jams" "When they are stuck their cars are idling which doubles the rate of emissions" "And when they brake, even more heavy metals are released" "So every day during rush hour in Beijing how much PM2.5 is emitted in one hour within the 6th ring?" "One ton" "How many Beijing residents would choose to drive if they are going somewhere within 5km?" "Close to half 12% of all residents would drive within 2km" "And 7% would drive within 1km" "How far is 1km?" "That's a trip to the supermarket or greengrocer's" "Do we really love driving so much?" "Perhaps a few of us do" "But there can't be so many irrational people, right?" "My family owns a car, but after our child was born we made a rule basically we would only drive for our parents, our kid or when we go to the airport or hospital" "When my husband goes to work every day, he rides a bicycle" "This is how you ride a bicycle in front of our apartment building" "That's the only way to ride" "Why?" "This is our bicycle lane" "It's almost always full of cars" "Beijing has over 5 million vehicles but only half of them have a parking space" "But no car can park in the air so you find them in bicycle lanes and on sidewalks" "That's how they park" "Of course, humanity is the same throughout the world" "Without regulations, this can happen anywhere" "Let's check London" "It seems they also parked like this in the old days then the parking meters were installed and they parked like this" "Then London raised its parking fee and congestion charge so they parked like this" "A few days ago, I heard that people are trying the same thing in Shenzhen they started to charge high parking fees" "Then the folks in Shenzhen parked like this (laughter)" "The same thing happened in Tokyo 50 years ago" "It's not that easy" "It took them a long time to clear the cars out of the way one by one" "This is a test of meticulous city management." "Car-lovers have another question" "As this photo shows there are no vehicles in Beijing at midnight, are there?" "Why is the pollution still so severe?" "Is it really caused by cars?" "This question also troubled me for a long time" "Until the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed me this chart" "Before every dawn in Beijing" "There's always a peak in pollution" "It shows up consistently every day" "At this peak, carbon emissions are about twice as high as the peak in the afternoon on the same day" "So what exactly is this?" "I wanted to know the answer as well" "So we went to Yanqing district of Beijing" "Yanqing" " Kangzhuang Toll Station, 2:30am 11 October 2014" "Inspector:" "Halt!" "Vehicle type:" "Futian Aoling" "Displayed emissions standard:" "National Standard 4" "This truck doesn't have the basic equipment for a Standard 4" "Chai:" "So in fact it's not a Standard 4 vehicle" "Driver:" "So what should I do?" "Driver:" "I just bought this new truck" "This is my environmental protection label" "It was issued this year" "Random inspection of another vehicle" "Vehicle type:" "Chang'an Kaima" "Displayed emissions standard:" "National Standard 3" "What does 3.29 mean?" "It's above the limit" "This is even beyond Standard 1" "So it has no emission control device at all?" "No, basically no emission control at all" "He has the green label" "It says Standard 3" "Who issued it?" "Hebei Province Department of Environmental Protection" "When I bought it they said it was Standard 3" "How could I know?" "I was just buying a truck" "Finally, the car was not given an on the spot fine" "His truck is on the green channel" "It's carrying eggs, milk, and oil" "It's part of the city's supply system" "According to the regulations, we should not penalize this truck" "Li Kunsheng, Director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, Vehicular Emissions Department" "Fake cars are common" "Or if we put it in more serious terms, fake cars are everywhere" "It's a secret kept within the automotive industry 90% of basic environmental protection devices are not installed" "So how does that play out in terms of emissions?" "If 30,000 [noncompliant] vehicles enter the city" "It's equivalent to several million [compliant] vehicles on the road at night" "What kind of emissions result if emission control devices are not used?" "The quantity of particulate emissions from just one vehicle [with no safeguards]" "Is 500 times the emissions from a vehicle of National Standard 4" "Diesel cars do not make up a big proportion of vehicles" "It's similar to the case of scrap coal" "There are not many" "Only 17% of all cars are diesel but their emissions of nitrogen oxides make up 70% of all vehicle emissions and as for their emission of primary particles relative to all vehicles?" "99%" "There's an even scarier aspect to this too" "The particulates in diesel vehicle emissions have exceptionally high toxicity" "PAHs are carcinogens" "But diesel vehicles emit PAHs on steroids" "Nitro-PAHs, which are an order of magnitude more carcinogenic" "When I saw those drivers of diesel vehicles in Yanqing" "I realized that they themselves are the biggest victims of their own diesel emissions" "They are a group at very high risk for cancer" "Besides, it seems fairly unreasonable to punish these people" "They spent their own money" "They bought vehicles with legal certificates issued by the government" "What reason do we have to fine them?" "If we want to blame someone shouldn't we start with those responsible for manufacturing these fake vehicles?" "Chai:" "Could you explain why the emission devices weren't installed during production?" "Boss:" "Well, there are trucks for export exporting to Africa and other places" "There are also National Standard 1 and 2 and European Standard 1 and 2 and 0 as well" "And some African ones" "But your trucks have National Standard 4 labels on them" "Well... perhaps they... export..." "like if they export" "They are sold for export" "Ummm... so that's how it happened" "You mean you put the wrong labels on by mistake?" "Yeah, maybe they stuck, stuck, something of their own" "Someone wants the cars" "So, so, so, we sold them (laughter)" "I don't know how our African brothers would feel after hearing this" "A business always has its rationalizations and reasons" "But what makes me curious is for more than ten years if such fake manufacturers are so common and widespread, and are known by the supervisory departments why aren't they dealt with?" "Don't we have laws?" "Don't we have regulations to recall defective automotive products?" "Such products can surely be recalled, can't they?" "However, from 2004 to today how many times has this law been applied to these kinds of vehicles?" "Not even once" "Why?" "This is the answer I got only when the defects pose unreasonable danger towards the safety of people or their property can the product be recalled" "They say leaving environmental protection devices out of manufacturing has nothing to do with safety" "It won't kill anyone so there's no reason for a recall" "Then do we have the right to fine the manufacturers or make them destroy their products?" "We do" "The "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act" states that:" "You can make these factories stop their illegal production" "You can fine them" "You can also confiscate and destroy their products" "More than ten years have passed since 2002" "How many times has this law been used?" "Not even once" "Why?" "This is the answer I got" "This law can only be enforced by the departments with the legal right of supervision" "Everyone says" "I don't know which department that is" "Since there are only a few departments related to automotive management" "I just called them one by one" "First I asked the Ministry of Environmental Protection" "They said:" "As far as we know, it's not us" "Then I asked the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology" "They say:" "It's definitely not us" "Then I asked the General Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection, they said:" "It should be all three of us" "I think they do have a reason to be confused" "Why doesn't the law just clarify who is in charge of this management?" "I had to turn to the National People's Congress" "So I called the NPC" "And this was their reply:" "The issue of this law's execution is indeed unclear" "This is a very rare case in our legislative process" "Why would it exist nowhere else but in Article 53 of the Law on Atmosphere?" "Ding Yan" " Director of MEP Vehicular Pollution Research Institute" "We asked them (NPC) back then" "Why did you write the Law on Atmosphere like this?" "Why don't you just let us take charge of it?" "They replied that because when they were making this law many departments opposed it saying that the MEP should not be in charge so the bill could not pass" "In the end the NPC had to use a vague term to make it pass" "So it says that only departments with executive authority can enforce this law" "It sounds like all three departments are responsible for supervision" "But in reality we cannot control it" "Their certificates are all valid so are the vehicles' types" "The MEP issues them green labels of National Standard 4 but not a single department actually goes out and looks at the cars which are in fact only up to Standard 1" "If you (at the MEP) assert you have legal authority, no one can deny that" "So why don't you just execute the law?" "The MEP is indeed suspected of not doing its best, I admit this" "The situation is that we didn't pursue this issue further" "So after so many years your law enforcement powers are still completely toothless?" "Nowadays I don't dare open my mouth out of fear that people will see I have no teeth." "That's the awkward thing about the MEP's situation." "This isn't just awkward for the MEP" "Truck companies are also in an awkward position" "The truck company with fake emissions stickers said" "If the MEP can enforce the law and impound those "fake" trucks" "I guarantee we would build "real" trucks the very next day" "Otherwise, if we build "real" trucks and others build "fake" trucks we would be bankrupt tomorrow" "So I asked Ding Yan, do you think this perspective is reasonable?" "He said "Yes"" "Not enforcing the law forces people to cheat" "The truck company owner also said" "National Standard 4 has already been set and it applies to all new vehicles" "But National Standard 4 compliant fuel is still scarce and the fuel quality is not as high as it should be" "When we were in Yanqing and randomly checked this diesel truck" "The diesel gas came from Beijing and was expected to be of high quality, the highest level in China" "But when the diesel test results came out, the (sulfur content) was 25 times higher than European, Japanese, and US diesel" "That's the top level of quality" "What about the quality of our gasoline?" "This is a table I got from Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science" "This table pains me every time I look at it because I cannot understand it at all" "Fortunately they gave me the conclusion" "This shows our national fuel quality is normally two or three grades lower than fuel found in developed countries." "If we can raise our national fuel quality by just one grade we can reduce emissions by 10%" "It seems like we have some good fuel available in China" "We have Standard 4 and higher quality fuel but these only make up 3% of China's total fuels" "This is Hangzhou's problem" "Hangzhou has money and wants to buy high quality fuel" "But until 2013 there was no high quality fuel available" "Even after a huge effort the best you can manage is Standard 3 fuel" "Even in Beijing, it looks like our sulfur content is on the same level as Europe's on the same level as America's" "But look at the four items in this box" "These cryptic figures carry a hidden danger" "They either increase oxidants in the atmosphere creating more fine particulates or increase toxicity" "The last item is increasing evaporative pressure" "It increases the rate of gasoline evaporation into the air" "I originally thought, really, how much can it possibly evaporate?" "Then the CRAES expert told me look at this clip" "This is filmed with an infrared camera" "If gas stations don't install a part on the nozzle to recapture gasoline vapor then this is how much can evaporate" "1.5 grams for each liter of gasoline will go into our atmosphere" "The gas in the tanks of the cars we all drive also evaporates in the same way" "How strong is the evaporative power?" "In Beijing, more airborne hydrocarbons come from evaporation than from car emissions" "And these substances are a major component of PM2.5" "So why don't we make the fuel cleaner right away?" "The petrochemical industry told us this" ""The national standard is set too low."" "This sentence seems reasonable" "How could you reasonably require companies to produce fuel that's better than the official standard?" "Right?" "Then I asked the MEP and CRAES the people involved in setting the standard" "Why don't you set the standard higher?" "This is the answer he gave me" "The standards subcommittee (Petroleum Fuel and Lubricant Technology Committee)" "Is actually mostly... yes, mostly made up of people from the oil industry" "About 67%" "The full standards committee (National Petroleum Fuel and Lubricant Technology Committee) has even more, in the full committee, it's almost... over 90%, as I recall are people from this industry" "The secretariat of the full committee is also located in the petrochemical industry" "Then the head of this standards committee" "He's also a member of the petrochemical industry" "I used to think you guys (in Environmental Protection) had a veto right" "Yeah, you'd think so, right?" "(Since we're in) environmental protection?" "This dark joke from Yue Xin left a very deep impression on me" "He said, "The only time I felt like I even existed was when I came in the door and I wrote my name on the sign-in sheet" "Because before, I didn't even have a vote."" "He said he and his colleagues will do everything they can to push for better fuel quality" "But the oil fuel industry has always explained it like this:" "Most of the fuel in our country is imported from the Middle East, right?" "Well then, most oil from Iran, for example, is high in sulphur" "In Tehran, they themselves are also facing problems caused by poor-quality fuel" "The smog there is severe" "But Iran's problem is they don't have the skills to improve fuel quality" "Chinese companies, on the other hand, do have these techniques" "Where is the split between government and industry?" "Money" "From Standard 3 to Standard 4 the MEP says 7 cents per liter is enough" "The industry says: no" "Give me 50 cents" "I say, both of you can sit down and show the expenses and calculate it" "Calculate how much it would be, it's a simple thing" "He had another wry smile" "Don't say it's me, go ask the National Development and Reform Commission Economic Department and see if they know" "(Source:" "Anonymous NDRC official)" "You can't control it." "Say you have an only child" "And this child is learning bad behavior" "As his mother, what can you do?" "All you can do is give him one good beating" "You can't beat him everyday" "Somebody else may have 10 kids they won't make trouble" "They are right in front of you" "They don't pay us any mind" "These deputy-level units" "What can you do about it?" "Are they going to pay any mind to you?" "If your price department doesn't raise the price this year next year they'll be at your door" "Are you going to raise it or not?" "If you don't, I'll cut off the supply" "That's what they say" "I didn't know whether to trust these things the MEP and NDRC said" "Is it the truth?" "Does it have any basis in reality?" "So I had to verify it" "I reached out to the Head of the National Oil Fuel Standard Committee and former Chief Engineer at China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec)" "Mr. Cao Xianghong" "Asking if I can meet him to chat" "And ask a few questions" "He agreed" "First Question:" "Why has the process of setting fuel standards been led by the oil industry?" "If the majority of participants come from industry" "This might be against the best interest of the public" "When convening a committee to set petroleum product standards" "You shouldn't be looking for someone who doesn't understand the oil refining business" "People from the MEP don't understand it?" "The MEP, no, I don't believe they understand" "Second Question:" "Who should set the standard?" "If you set a standard then when the time comes to improve it, you say it's impossible" "Then when the deadline arrives, you say you cannot provide fuel" "Now you may have all sorts of reasons for this, but people may not believe you" "But if Sinopec doesn't take the lead in drafting this who else is there to draft it?" "Well, for example, in some countries first, their environmental protection agencies have people who understand the industry" "Yes" "Second, before they submit the draft they take plenty of time with industry people to understand, communicate and debate" "At the very end, their health reports, economic reports, these are all provided in full to the committee" "And then through an open, public process" "They let everyone judge it for themselves" "And they all have opportunities to express their opinions and debate with one another" "If it's done with this method, do you think you could consider accepting that?" "I could accept that" "I've wanted to give up this Standards Committee chairmanship for quite a long time" "Really?" "Really" "People on the outside say, "You're too partial to Sinopec."" "But then Sinopec says, "Stop biting the hand that feeds you."" "You can't satisfy everyone" "Third Question:" "Why won't you publicize the costs of upgrading our fuel?" "Can you publish either your input costs or upgrade costs?" "Show it to the public?" "In society nowadays, naturally when it comes to" "Sinopec, or the China National Petroleum Corporation" "People have a feeling of mistrust" "Do you feel this mistrust–" "Many people don't bother with rational discussion" "If there is some tiny flaw, they will blow it up into something huge" "It just makes matters worse" "It's better to not say anything at all" "Fourth Question:" "Can we raise the standard and force a fuel upgrade?" "Many people will say why don't we raise the standard a bit and force improvement in the fuel quality?" "If there were an interruption to the fuel supply resulting in social instability" "There would be turmoil in our society" "Then would it be possible to fully open the market for finished petroleum products?" "That would eliminate the possibility of interruptions to the fuel supply" "If it wasn't done right, it could be a disaster" "Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry can run a fuel company" "Then he might think why can only Sinopec and CNPC make money?" "Everybody else can make money too" "Yes, everybody can make money" "So I agree with deepening reform and gradual opening up" "If the government wants to decide and push through this kind of reform" "Then the government should go do some research first and find out what kind of risks there might be" "Fifth Question:" "Can [oil companies] take on more social responsibility?" "Many people will say" "Sinopec is already a Fortune 500 global company" "It's just announced an income of 2 trillion RMB ($319 billion) last year" "It's a large state-owned company" "So, when it comes to environmental issues why can't it take on more of its own social responsibility?" "Sinopec is huge" "Like a person" "Very big" "But it's all fat and no muscle" "Petroleum companies all over the world will try to protect the interests of their industry" "That's the nature of a corporation and it's not going to change" "We wanted to know in other countries, who sets the fuel standards?" "This is our conclusion so far:" "In Australia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Canada" "Environmental agencies are basically in charge of setting the standards" "Even in the European Union, where it is decided by the European Standards Committee they hear from industry associations" "But there's never been a case when the petrochemical industry actually led the standards process" "But why are fuel quality standards in China set by the oil industry?" "Each country's choice is rooted in its history" "In the 1960s, China was facing an extreme gasoline shortage" "Buses on Chang'an Street, the busiest street in Beijing had to carry a big bag of diesel fuel on the roof during operation" "We were a long way from worrying about environmental standards for gasoline" "At the time, the MEP didn't exist so the Petrochemical Research Institute under the Ministry of Petroleum regulated fuel standards" "In 1983 as part of institutional reforms the Ministry of Petroleum was dissolved and the Petrochemical Research Institute became a department of Sinopec" "With that, the government ministry's role in regulating fuel standards was handed over to a corporation" "In the year 2005, the first Chinese Petrochemical Standards Committee was founded and the oil industry naturally took on a leading role in the group" "For the past ten years China has been faced with soaring needs for both fuel quality and fuel quantity" "China faces an unprecedented challenge with pressing needs in both respects" "As the Chinese economy develops further environmental protection is receiving more attention" "With the Chinese public calling for higher fuel standards real changes have been made within the CPSC" "Although members from the oil industries still make up over half of the committee the number of members from outside the oil industry has increased during the past two years" "The committee has also set up a voting system" "In the end, each country's standards for oil and gasoline quality emerge from balancing the needs of the economy and the environment" "Future changes to the CPSC will emerge from this balancing act" "In China, in addition to the low oil standards there is another problem that I could never have imagined before I started out" "That is, half of the oil in China is completely unregulated" "Out of the world's top ten ports, seven are in China" "Ocean-going cargo vessels cause so much pollution that within 400 meters of the coast emissions from ships are equivalent to emissions from 500,000 trucks" "So, in Shenzhen, 60% of the sulfur dioxide is from ships" "Maybe you don't live by a harbor, but you do live by a river" "There are more than 200,000 boats like this in China burning heavy oil of the lowest quality" "How polluting can it get?" "At some harbors, you can even pick up grains of black carbon with your hand" "Or maybe you live near an airport" "When a plane takes off, that's one ton of kerosene burned and when it lands, that's another ton" "So at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou the daily emissions are equivalent to emissions from 600,000 taxis" "Maybe you don't live by a harbor, along a river, or near an airport but you've certainly seen vehicles like this" "These are construction vehicles" "Once in Hebei province I saw one of these and I thought something up ahead was on fire" "When I overtook it on the road" "I realized it was the source of that black smoke" "Then we followed it into a village" "The entrance of the village looked like this" "(Sign:" "Diesel)" "We saw a small room at the entrance with villagers playing mahjong and selling lottery tickets" "They sold diesel and coal slurry, too" "I had no idea where the diesel came from" "I was with some officials from the MEP and they suggested we should go investigate" "So they bought a diesel can on the spot and then went into the nearest privately-owned gas station" "I was the last one out of the car and by the time I got out the official's government ID had already been taken away by the owner" "Station Owner:" "You... you guys... what do you want..." "I'm..." "I'm not giving (your ID) back" "Environment Officer: (We are from) the EPB enforcement." "EPB enforcement?" "What are you doing here?" "This is a random inspection." "You..." "You want to inspect?" "Inspect what...?" "No..." "What right do you EPB guys have to take samples for investigation..." "EPB... do... do... do... do you even have...?" "We're going to run a test." "No no no..." "You EPB guys have... what is this..." "Yes, yes, of course we have the authority to monitor diesel quality there is... the Technical Monitoring Authority..." "Diesel Quality Monitoring Authority... governed by the (Oil) Union Authority" "The EPB has [the authority] too" "Environmental Protection..." "This is the first time I've heard of it, what does the EPB care?" "Let me tell you... you... take... take... take the sample... take a prepared sample" "Yes... there is this..." "Technical Monitoring Authority... there is this... that..." "Yes... there's the "Air Pollution Prevention Act"" ""Air Pollution Prevention Act?"" ""The EPB has the authority and obligation..."" "You... have the obligation... you have the obligation, but not the authority" "When the owner finished that sentence each of us was left speechless" "All we could do was take our diesel can and leave" "He'd put it so ruthlessly" "From coal, to oil, and on down the list" "We consume so much coal and oil" "Our coal and oil quality is relatively low" "We don't do enough to clean it and when we emit, we don't regulate that enough either" "All along, I have wanted to know why until this gas station owner" "Without even realizing it himself, in a single sentence cut straight to the heart of the matter" "Less than half of our coal is washed" "There are no restrictions" "There are no standards" "There are no national regulations" "Requirements for coal washing: none" "What about the steel industry in Hebei?" "It's reached the point where nothing can stop them" "Polluting companies: unstoppable" "The operators of this truck have not been fined" "No penalties have been applied in 14 years?" "No, never" "Over-emitting vehicles: enforcement responsibility unclear, cannot be recalled" "Over 90% are individuals from the petrochemical industry" "I don't think the environmental protection authorities understand" "Petroleum standards: unregulatable" "This is the conundrum of environmental protection" "Now I don't dare open my mouth" "I fear that people will notice I have no teeth" "Environmental protection authorities have an obligation and the authority" "You have an obligation, but not the authority" "Petroleum product quality: no inspection authority" ""Isn't that the conundrum of environmental protection?"" "So one night there was an environmental protection professional who sent me this photo" "This is a photo taken in 1999" "He graduated from university that year" "He said he was motivated by a calling" "So he went to work for the Environmental Protection Bureau" "He wanted to make a difference" "He said, "Sometimes, I feel like I'm nothing more than a mascot." (laughter)" "So I tried to console him" "I said, "Why do you think so?"" "He said, "You are an investigative reporter you must know this better than me"" "2004 interview" "(Suppose) you didn't get the government approval for land use do you dare to build?" "Ren Baoming" " Legal representative, Hongta Coal Washing  Coking Factory" "We wouldn't dare" "Suppose you don't get the approval from the Administration for Industry and Commerce" "Or the approval from Taxation Bureau" "Do you dare to build?" "No, no" "So why, when you don't have EPB approval, it's all fine?" "We should have EPB approval" "We ought to" "Eventually, we will get it" "Eventually, we will get it" "Exactly" "Did you know about these situations?" "We have taken steps" "Zeng Shumao" " Bureau Chief, Environmental Protection Bureau of Xiaoyi City, Shanxi" "On-site checking, inquiries and records then impose a penalty" "But the fact is he still went ahead and built, and even went into production" "We finished the procedure that was required" "We issued the Letter of Penalty that was required" "There is nothing we can do if the enterprises do not stop" "This is a kind of helplessness" "Then what you've got here should be considered illegal construction" "Oh well, it's hard to find factories that do not violate regulations" "Zhang Xuguang" " Mayor, Xiaoyi City, Shanxi" "The government's attitude towards coal coking" "We are always cool-headed after we took steps" "Previous trends were stopped by us" "They were stopped" "If they stopped, why are there more than 30 projects still violating regulations?" "As the Xiaoyi municipal government, our attitude is clear and firm" "If your attitude is clear and firm" "Then these unlawful projects should be" "Not one should have started" "Liu Xiangdong" " Bureau Chief, Shanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau" "This cat, it's the local government's cat" "Whether this cat can catch mice or not and how many mice it can catch, is decided by the local government" "It is not decided by the environmental protection authority" "We walked for hundreds of meters along the coastline and saw the same black chemical silt" "We could smell 4-5 different kinds of chemicals" "The odor here is the kind of smell that stings your nose" "What is that smell?" "Chen Zhiming" " Vice General Manager, Zhejiang Haizheng Pharmaceutical" "My sense of smell may not be as sensitive as yours" "You said that you cannot smell it" "My sensitivity is not as good as yours (laughter)" "One ton of steel if you cut all the costs of environmental protection measures you could save 100 RMB ($16) per ton" "For one ton of coal, you could save 156 RMB ($25)" "On one truck, if you avoid installing any environmental protection equipment you can save 20,000 RMB ($3,200)" "If you avoid upgrading petroleum products by a single grade you can save 50 billion RMB ($8 billion)" "10 years ago" "I asked what the smell in the air was" "I received no answer" "Now I know" "It is the stink of money" "In that interview I recorded years ago the local secretary said to me:" ""You absolutely must film my achievements in pollution management!"" "So he made me film this clip" "He was quite satisfied and said" "Miss Chai, I demolished this smokestack especially for you!" "(laughter) 3 years later, I went there again" "An even larger smokestack had been built in the same place (laughter)" "Actually, environmental protection facilities were installed at the same time" "But when I asked: "Have the facilities ever been used?"" "The manager rubbed his hands together, and answered, "Yes..." "Soon, soon."" "At that time the local secretary said to me:" ""Everyone tells me, 'Environmental Protection, Environmental Protection...'" "Let me ask you, who would dare slow down China's economic development?"" "I am also keen to know the answer" "So 10 years later, I visited a steel market in Hebei Province" "When I went in it was quite empty" "The raw steel was already rusting hidden in the wild grass" "Some of it had even become birds' nests" "I asked this young steel salesman:" ""How is your business?"" "He replied: "Do you see any trucks coming to carry the steel?"" "He said, "So many steel enterprises all produce completely identical, low–end products" "They compete with each other only on the basis of quantity" "At this point I'd rather be selling cabbages!"" "When we produce one ton of steel how many resources will we consume?" "600 kilograms of coal 3 to 6 tons of water" "And what pollutants will we emit?" "1.53 kilograms of sulfur dioxide 1 kilogram of smoke and soot" "And what is the profit for producing one ton of steel?" "You can take a guess" "How much?" "RMB 1000 ($160)?" "Not even enough to buy a pickled egg" "One ton of stell, in 2014 was less than 2 RMB ($0.30)" "What about when we burn one ton of coal?" "How much pollution will we release?" "1.53 kilograms of sulfur dioxide 3 to 9 kilograms of nitrogen dioxide" "2 kilograms of carbon monoxide 9-11 kilograms of soot" "Can you guess how much profit there is in one ton of coal?" "Two pickled eggs?" "You're still overestimating" "You couldn't even afford a soda" "Of our 36 different heavy industries 22 are in serious overproduction" "Mr Cao Xianghong from Sinopec said one thing that was very accurate:" ""It's like a person who looks big but it's all fat and no muscle."" "But these enterprises are still receiving large subsidies" "You can see here, between 2011 – 2013 the government has given these publicly traded steel companies this many subsidies" "In order to prevent one of the companies from being taken off the stock exchange the government subsidized it every other year" "How much has it been subsidized?" "Tens, thousands, ten thousands, billions... 2 billion RMB ($320 million)" "Two years later, another 2 billion RMB" "Another one of these companies which had already posted severe losses hung a slogan in their office after receiving the subsidy" "It reads: "With intense struggle and indomitable spirit, we vow that our steel will be 100 RMB ($16) cheaper than XX Corporation's."" "That's why the Deputy Head of the Central Bank, Mr Liu Shiyu, has called these companies 'zombie companies'" "They are consuming huge amounts of financial resources" "They are going to bring a huge amount of unforeseeable risk to our real economy" "And these companies are still expanding, even now" "Two days ago I received a letter from a little girl" "She said to me, a coke plant near her home is expanding and is going to demolish her family's house" "Her dad refused to agree, and so he was beaten" "She hoped I could help her" "This is the same little girl I interviewed ten years ago" "Little Wang Huiqing, who had never seen stars or white clouds" "I asked her, "How is your health these days?"" "She told me, "Auntie, I can't worry about my health now." "I just want my whole family to have a place to live."" "Thank goodness, when I gave her a call two days ago she said the owner of the coke plant had just been taken away by the authorities (laughter)" "But, as for these industries that are already considered to be excessively over-producing in half of the provinces of China, they are still listed as 'key industries' in the 25th Five-Year Plan for economic development." "There is a simple underlying reason" "If we urbanize and continue to develop we only need to increase urbanization by 1% and all this excess supply could easily be consumed" "Where there is housing development, there is demand for steel" "Where there is road construction there will be cars" "Right?" "Mr Jiang from Tsinghua University told me" "China's urban development is itself in a severe state of over-production" "The situation is even worse than in industry" "I didn't really believe it because I feel like over the past 30 years social changes in ordinary families such as mine and improvement in general living standards were all achieved thanks to urbanization" "When I was young my little sister and I grew up in a traditional house" "It had 300 years of history" "It housed a dozen families" "Later, our living conditions improved when we moved into housing provided by my mom's work unit" "The accommodation we were given was 12 square meters and housed five of us" "When we slept at night we added another wooden plank to the bed frame and put a chair underneath to hold it up" "Then it became a double bed" "This was the window of my bedroom" "Wasn't it nice?" "In reality the bedroom was very small, there was no window so I could only hang a picture on the wall" "It represented the fantasies of a very young creative spirit" "This picture was taken when I was about to go off to university" "It shows what our county seat looked like" "I used to walk to school along this road" "This is what it was like back in those days" "The changes in living standards my family saw over the years proves that there are millions of households all in need of new construction" "(Mr Jiang) asked me" ""Hasn't it been a long time since you last went back to Shanxi?"" "I said he was right" "He said, "Why don't you go back and have a look?"" "This year I took my child to visit Shanxi and took this video with my phone along the way" "(Billboards advertising new apartment complexes)" "I am happy to see some changes happening in my hometown because people there need wealth, they need development" "But what surprises me is that I saw so many advertisements for real estate within the city, and so many construction sites" "But they're empty" "I then asked a relative who has invested a lot in the local housing market how many flats in this particular development have been sold" "He said, only 20-30% have been sold" "I asked, "How come they've sold so few?"" "He hesitated and said:" ""Since the real name policy was implemented for government officials buying real estate, they haven't been selling too well."" "(My relative) booked a local hotel for my family" "I was so shocked when I arrived at the hotel gate because it claims to be a "five-star hotel"" "and I was booked into the "Presidential Suite"" "I said, "No you don't have to!"" "He said, "Don't worry" "It only costs 200 RMB ($32 USD)." (laughter)" "We drove our car into the parking lot and it didn't have a single light, it was in total darkness" "And then this middle-aged guy came along carrying a big flashlight to light our way" "He guided us into the hotel lobby" "He then continued to use his big flashlight and led us down the corridors to our room" "There were no lights in the entire hotel because nobody was staying in it" "When I got back to Beijing" "I brought this up with Professor Jiang" "He told me, "The Shanxi that you witnessed is a microcosm of the rest of the country" "In China we lose 80 traditional villages everyday" "Houses have an average lifespan of a mere 30 years" "There are more than 200 municipalities in China 184 of which have plans to become so-called "international metropolises"" "We have a population of 1.3 billion" "If we take into account the plans laid out by these municipalities the population adds up to 3.4 billion" "I came to Beijing carrying a small suitcase in 1998" "I studied, worked and found, in this city a sense of self-worth and belonging" "If China hadn't been urbanized, I'd still be back in Shanxi" "Working a menial job that my parents found for me" "Wearing blue overalls and spending the rest of my life using an abacus" "Cities gave us our personal freedom and gave this nation three decades of prosperity" "When there are 300-400 million people knocking on our cities' doors" "Urbanization becomes an unavoidable reality and those who enter will bring unimaginable culture and wealth to this country" "But if we don't change our current model of using capital to fuel industry and urban development, what will be the consequences?" "The Development Research Center of the State Council projects that in 15 years our coal consumption will rise to 6 billion tons while the number of vehicles will rise to 400 million" "So what does that mean for us?" "Professor Ni of Tsinghua University told me" ""This means that even before we run out of natural resources, we will have exhausted the capacity of our environment."" "This means that now in China the pollution and traffic jams have just started" "The needs of a country" "Beijing" "Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu" "This photo was taken during the November 2014 APEC summit in Beijing" "One morning, my husband took me to a place he often visited as a child" "His father taught him ice skating, swimming, and fishing there" "He said he loved to look at the texture of the ice in winter" "It spread all the way to the corner turret of the Forbidden City" "That was his memory of this elegant and ancient city" "We looked at this scene together like a kid staring at the last piece of candy" "You know that if you don't eat it, it will melt" "But you also know that once you eat it, it will disappear" "Now we felt that same sense of sweetness, anxiety and frustration" "Wang Yuesi, Researcher, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics" "I am a native of Beijing" "When I was a child, the sky was blue and the clouds were white" "The canal water was so clear we could see the bottom, we could catch fish with our hands" "I also grew up here" "I also remember what it was like when I was still a child" "Standing on Chang'an Avenue, we could see all the way to the Western Hills" "Having clean air is not an impossible task" "It's completely achievable" "It just depends how determined you are" "I hope and believe that with dedication and hard work, we'll be able to keep our "APEC Blue"" "When I got back, I asked the experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences:" ""Can you tell me, what would it take if we want to keep our APEC Blue?"" "He said, we must cut emissions of sulfur dioxide by this much against 2013 levels nitrogen oxide by this much and PM2.5 by this much" "In short, we would have to cut our pollutants by more than half in exchange for that blue sky" "During the APEC Summit, China and the US issued a joint statement" "China pledged that its carbon emissions will peak around 2030 and non-fossil energy sources will make up 20% of its energy infrastructure" "Coal dominates our country's energy infrastructure and is a source of both carbon emissions and smog" "Reducing our carbon output and cutting toxic emissions go hand in hand" "When I set the goal for 2030, I specified that should be our peak" "It is actually a "reverse coercion system."" "So we will start moving on the green, low-carbon path" "People may ask, to protect the environment, do we really have to sacrifice economic development?" "That's a debt you have to settle" "If you've acted wrongly before, you have to make up for it now" "The real problem now becomes, how do we increase the employment rate and the average income?" "Through transformation" "What if during this transformation some workers in some industries lose their jobs?" "Right now, China's energy-saving and environmental protection industries generate over 3.7 trillion RMB ($590 billion) a year and employ around 39 million people" "Don't forget, this is an industry too" "But many people may wonder, will the Chinese government keep investing in economic growth?" "If we want to maintain the rate of economic growth the way to do it is precisely through green, low-carbon, recycling-focused programs" "Consider the Great Smog of 1952 in London or the smog crisis in Los Angeles" "It took them six to seven decades to solve their problems" "We can learn from their experience" "We will get through this stage much more quickly than they did" "Before, I was worried that" "Beijing is still expanding" "The number of cars is still increasing" "Can pollution there really be reduced?" "But this is Los Angeles" "A place very similar to Beijing" "It also has mountains on three sides" "So it's hard for polluted air to disperse" "That's why LA has also experienced large-scale photochemical smog" "You can look at 1950" "These cans were sold in shops in Hollywood" "They contained Los Angeles air" "The can has a slogan on it" ""Buy one for somebody you hate!"" "You can imagine the feelings and resentment of those who lived in LA at the time" "However, since 1970" "The number of cars in LA is still increasing" "It has actually tripled" "But what about emissions?" "They have decreased by 75%" "How did they do it?" "I went to LA to find out" "We are now in the air over Santa Monica" "You can see a layer of haze over there" "That's the smog" "We've often seen these tall buildings in Hollywood movies" "But Los Angeles is not really a city of skyscrapers" "All around those skyscrapers is a flat expanse of one- and two-story buildings" "This low-density urban development means you have to drive to get around in LA" "Los Angeles' sprawl is considered a classic case of failed urban planning" "Its public transportation has not been developed or utilized to its fullest potential" "This has caused an inevitable increase in car ownership" "In a city of 1.7 million people, there are about 1.3 million cars" "That's almost one car per person" "In the whole of California 850 million trips are made every day" "If you add up all the fuel" "It's enough to travel to the moon and back 1,600 times" "Over there is a beer brewery, and over there are huge warehouses" "This truck just came from the port of Long Beach" "Take a look at this big Optimus Prime-looking guy 18 wheels" "Over 20 meters long" "Its quality is like a tank or armored vehicle" "CARB estimates that 71% of the carcinogens in Southern California's atmosphere come from diesel vehicles" "So all diesel vehicles are required to install a diesel particulate filter (DPF)" "This is a special type of filter" "It's like putting a dust mask on your truck" "It can filter out 99% of particles" "This driver is from Mexico" "He drives an old 2005 model truck" "The law says he must install a DPF" "But he hasn't installed one" "Although his truck's emission level is within compliance" "He will be still be fined $1,000 US dollars" "Why didn't you install the DPF?" "Not much money" "He was waiting till the last minute" "He makes around $4,000 a month" "Now he has to pay a $1,000 ticket" "That's a pretty high price" "Sir, how many kids do you have?" "Six" "What if he still doesn't install the DPF?" "We'll keep ticketing him" "If you still don't comply," "We'll report you to the DMV" "And not allow you to renew your license plates" "If you can't renew your plates," "You can't drive, so you can't make money" "To manage its pollution," "California had to enact the strictest standards for new motor vehicles" "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to inspect any new vehicle" "It has the right to inspect any car in use with up to 12,000 miles on it" "If it finds a factory has been violating the regulations" "It will fine the car manufacturer $25,000 for each day since the vehicle left the factory" "The EPA has the authority to require car manufacturers to recall all affected vehicles" "Paul Jacobs, California Air Resource Board, Branch Chief 45% of the citizens want to comply and be good corporate citizens" "Another 45% say, "Well, I don't really want to, but I'm going to because I might get caught."" "And 10% say, "Catch me."" ""I'm gonna go 100 miles per hour in the left lane of the freeway, come and catch me."" "This court settlement particularly interests me" "I only realized afterwards that" "The vehicle that was fined was imported from China" "It was because of environmental labeling fraud" "But this time, once they were caught," "They were fined about 400 million RMB [64 million USD]" "Two of the people in charge went to jail" "Human nature is the same all around the world" "In the US, you can also find people who want to avoid punishment or break the law" "But you can control 90% of them if you strictly enforce the law" "If you do not enforce the law" "It will be like the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said 90% of vehicles will continue to commit environmental fraud" "This year, the government is finally revising the "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Law"" "In the current draft, it authorizes the Chinese environmental protection agencies to fine or recall fraudulent vehicles" "However, it won't take effect until September 2015 at the earliest" "So before then" "Every night, at this very moment millions of trucks are traveling across and polluting China's vast landscape." "How many of these trucks have fake environmental credentials?" "How many of these trucks are emitting particles and pollution?" "This is what we're all enduring" "So before our [original] "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China" expires" "So before our [original] "Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China" expires" "Can we use it at least once?" "Can we keep it from being viewed in our history like this?" "Back then" "When the U.S. wanted to establish strict standards" "Once the U.S. car manufacturers heard this, they immediately made the effort and caught up" "They constantly sued the EPA and did not want to change" "Then, some foreign car manufacturers said" ""I can do it, I can comply!"" "Once the U.S. car manufacturers heard this, they immediately made the effort and caught up" "But sadly, by then they'd lost half of their market share" "So I asked the officials in the U.S. environmental protection agencies" ""Are you afraid that you're hurting your national auto industry?"" "They said" ""Environmental protection isn't a burden"" ""It's innovation"" "Safeguarding the past is no way to promote innovation" "The government's role is to set standards and then ensure fair competition in the market" "Fair competition will win in the market" "But in China, coal accounts for 70% of our energy consumption" "Within the energy infrastructure we have, how can we reduce coal?" "Let's look at this graph of how London did it. (Graph:" "London Air Pollution Density, µg/m3)" "Many people argue that it took London 40 or 50 years to get its air pollution under control" "So we have to wait just as long" "But is that true?" "Look at this" "In just the first ten years after they started to manage pollution, they reduced pollutants by 80%" "That's a huge improvement" "Let's see how London accomplished this" "When the Great London Smog of 1952 happened, 90% of England's energy consumption was coal" "In 1953, the average density of black particles was 10 times higher than the European Union's standard" "The pressure to control the smog was even greater than ours in China now" "The English passed the "Clean Air Act" in 1956" "At every colliery we used to run waterers on the surface so the coal would've been washed before being sold on to customers" "To use ordinary coal or to to use it in an open grate would be illegal" "And that by the way is the grate" "Do you still use it?" "We do sometimes" "It's smokeless coal." "And this is called "home fire."" "The government funded 70% of the cost of furnace renovations for citizens" "But punishments were strict as well" "Violation could result in a £100 fine" "Or even jail time" "Installation of any apparatus emitting smoke is strictly prohibited" "Smoke wardens could inspect a shop and decide that it was selling illegal materials" "This is the last cart of coals from a former coal mine in South Wales" "It stopped on this track in 1983" "In the 20 years following the Great Smog of 1952, oil replaced more than 20% of coal" "Natural gas replaced more than 30% of coal" "Across the whole country's energy infrastructure, coal dropped from 90% to 30% of total consumption" "And heavy industry's share of the GDP also dropped 10%" "Many coal mines and coal factories closed down" ""And that's another London landmark gone."" "Millions of people used to work for the coal industry" "How do you (miner) make money today?" "Well, you have to find alternative employment" "I'm not a rich man, but at least I don't have to worry about paying the bills" "Mining to me, it was just a job 100 years ago" "We had a million miners in the United Kingdom" "We've just got tens of thousands now" "But we've got more people in jobs than ever before in our history" "If an industry is on its way out" "There is another industry coming up" "From 1960 to 1970" "In the first ten years after England began controlling its air pollution" "Not only did the economy not shrink," "GDP actually doubled" "Ten years after that" "The U.K had entered the age of oil and natural gas" "Its economic power quadrupled" "Once the U.K. used cleaner energy sources, oil and natural gas" "Natural gas, in particular, replaced coal" "They achieved blue skies and white clouds" "The interesting thing is, when we were in London looking for historical sources on how coal contributed to air pollution" "The best, most thorough, and most authoritative source is this one we could find was from a natural gas company" "The name is simple" ""Guilty Chimneys"" "Natural gas quickly gained market share through competition" "And replaced its opponent" "The U.K. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change asked me" "Do you know what London's economic level was at the beginning of the environmental reforms?" "Their per capita GDP was the same as China's" "Most importantly, the government shouldn't subsidize backward-thinking, polluting, unprofitable businesses" "The government needs to give new, innovative companies a fair chance to compete" "If you do, they will surprise you" "London's success story tells us" "China needs to leave the era of coal and enter the era of oil and natural gas" "Only if we do that can we have cleaner air" "Today in the world, the share of natural gas in energy consumption is fairly high" "Natural gas accounts for around 24% of the world's energy consumption because natural gas is a relatively clean energy source" "How about China?" "Just 5% of our energy comes from natural gas" "Why is this number so low?" "The standard answer I've heard since I was young is" "It's because we're a country with lots of coal insufficient oil and not enough natural gas" "Is that really true?" "It's true" "But is it the whole story?" "So I wrote to hang Dawei, which is the Director of Mineral Resources Reserve Center in the Ministry of Land and Resources" "He sent me a few numbers" "How much of our potential natural gas reserves have actually been investigated?" "22%" "That means we have a lot of undiscovered natural gas under us" "How about oil?" "38%" "For the resources we have verified let's say natural gas" "We've found 900 billion cubic meters of natural gas" "How much have we started to extract?" "100 billion cubic meters" "We have so many resources that we know are there" "But we aren't taking advantage of them" "Why is that?" "Director Zhang Dawei sent me another reply" "Very simple" "Just a few numbers" "For instance, the United States is the biggest natural gas producer" "They have 6300 natural gas and oil companies" "How many do we have?" "3 70% of them are under one company" "China National Petroleum Corporation" "America has 160 natural gas pipeline companies" "How many do we have?" "3 70% of them are under one company" "70% of them are under one company" "China National Petroleum Corporation" "This is the answer he gave me" "If we open up this market" "Our annual production of natural gas will double yearly" "Our verified reserves will double yearly" "Why have we been so slow to join the oil and gas age?" "Why can't we develop more natural gas?" "The petrochemical industry is not open and each sector of the industry is basically a monopoly and a monopoly can't innovate，" "People outside of the industry can't get into it" "It's like an only child with a toy that only he can play with and he can play with it until he's sick of it or just throw it away" "You just have to listen to what they tell you" "The oil business is related to security and if it's not managed well the consequences can be serious" "It depends on how you understand energy security" "So, energy security is important" "But, the new technology will be welcomed" "I'm answer this question" "As long as there is competition" "Then the industry will try its hardest to innovate and change" "You may be interested to know that the company that controls electricity distribution around this city, London, is Chinese-owned" "Only if we bring down the price of energy will there be competitiveness" "I think, by being open, you share ideas, you innovate, you get the best from the world" "What is the key to controlling China's smog?" "Reform of energy systems and policies" "In preparing for this documentary" "I encountered for the first time" "China's energy problems" "I only had a rough feeling for the problem" "China's reform and opening up was not how I had originally imagined it" "Like the process of a chick hatching from its egg" "As soon as it hatches it is already complete and alive" "But it's more like the process of a cicada shedding its skin little by little emerging from the skin it originally had" "And energy is the last part that remains in the shell" "It has always been considered important to national security and economic security, so it has not been treated as a commodity" "It has been impossible for it to be exposed to real market forces" "But the shell itself is also paying a price" "This is a diagram showing a network of corruption in the energy industry over the past two years" "Energy is a sector with a high rate of corruption" "The former director of the National Energy Administration, Liu Tienan during his court hearing said that in order to curb high rates of corruption those rights that should have originally belonged to the market should be given back to the market" "So in June 2014" "China's national energy security strategy stated that energy is a commodity" "We need to build an effective market structure and market system and we need to change the method of supervision that the government uses for energy" "But as we're waiting for the country to build and improve a massive energy system what can we do?" "Even the world's most powerful government can't control pollution by itself" "It needs to rely on ordinary people like you and me" "Our choices and our determination" "In 2003, when I was reporting on SARS the most important lesson I learned was that only with information disclosure can there be a basis for public participation" "Over the past three years at the same time as providing air quality forecasts the government has also established the largest online monitoring network in the world to monitor polluting enterprises" "What we need to do is to use this data and not waste the money spent on it" "Let everyone see the data" "Put it out in the sunlight" "This is a mobile app" "After downloading this software you can see on your phone in an area about 5 kilometers around you which enterprises are emitting pollutants" "These red circles all show enterprises exceeding emissions standards" "China's 6000 key enterprises discharge 65% of China's waste emissions" "You can submit a report to the environmental protection authorities" "You can also share these details on Weibo" "All these with traces of blue are enterprises reported by the public that have promised to take corrective actions by a certain time" "Of course the shame is that if the data for some places" "Is not disclosed at all what can we do?" "So last year" "I attended a forum which was the first time local environmental legislation had been drafted with public participation" "During this forum" "I heard lots of disputes" "The main dispute was around whether to force key enterprises to disclose information" "In the end" "Hebei Province published the first regulations with public participation" "The regulations required that key polluting enterprises must publicize their information" "If they don't publicize this information citizens can file lawsuits requiring the enterprises to pay a daily fine, with the maximum being 100,000 RMB (16,000 USD) per day" "But who is going to file these lawsuits?" "Only 1% of major environmental disputes go to court in China" "What's the reason for such a small number?" "Can you guess before this year how many NGOs in China were allowed to file law suits?" "None" "This is because at the time regulations in the Civil Procedural Law stated that only "relevant organizations" can file lawsuits" "As to who these relevant organizations are no one knows" "But from January 1st this year the new Environmental Protection Law ruled that as long as an organization has been carrying out environmental protection work for 5 or more years, and has not broken the law in any way," "then they can qualify to file lawsuits" "At present some people from among the more than 700 environmental protection organizations are already trying" "The slogan proposed is" ""Does the new environmental law have what it takes?" "Our partners are testing it right now."" "As for ordinary people like us, if you don't have time to join an environmental protection organization then what else can you do?" "In cooperation with Friends of Nature we have made a short animation" "If you're going less than 5km please take public transportation, ride a bike, or carpool" "If you drive a car" "Don't let the engine idle longer than 30 seconds" "If you see a diesel vehicle belching black exhaust" "Try calling 12369 to report it" "Those "black tails" behind diesel trucks are full of PM2.5 they endanger public health." "If you see a restaurant releasing cooking smoke" "Ask them to install a filtering system" "Or leave them a negative review online" "If you see dust blowing from uncovered piles at construction sites" "If you think there might be a leak at a gas station" "Try calling 12369" "If you burn coal at home" "As much as you can, try to avoid low-quality coal" "Ask your mom to clean the kitchen range and hood to keep the family healthy" "And you can try taking pictures to help locate industrial pollution sources supervise and report illegal activity and tweet @ your local environmental bureau on Weibo" "Check out the list of polluting manufacturers and boycott their products" "When our air quality laws are being written and revised participate in the public commenting process and make your voice heard" "With a little thought and care, the smog will start to clear" "Before," "When I walked by the uncovered construction site near my home" "I usually just covered my nose and went on past" "But now I know" "At lease 15% of Beijing's PM2.5 pollution comes from blowing dust" "I decided I had to try" "(Chai) We live nearby" "(Chai) Why haven't you covered this dirt?" "(Worker) Ask our boss" "(Chai) Okay, where's your boss?" "(Worker) Over there, go look over there" "(Chai) You haven't covered that huge dirt pile alongside the road" "(Chai) As soon as the wind blows, the dust flies everywhere" "(Boss) I know, I know, I know, I know" "(Boss) It's our fault" "(Chai) So when are you going to cover it?" "(Boss) Right away" "(Chai) Okay" "(Workers) Sorry, sorry." "The whole process took less than five minutes" "Right before I left" "The worker who told me where to find the boss said," ""Do you know why he's afraid of you?"" "He pointed at the mobile phone in my hand" "He's afraid you'll expose him" "In my building there is a restaurant downstairs" "It serves meat pies" "And every mealtime" "Everywhere in the building smells like smoke" "Before, I didn't think this is was a problem" "Isn't every Chinese restaurant in the world like this?" "But now I know" "Beijing's food service industry creates at least 6% of our PM2.5 pollution" "And Beijing is home to 12% of the country's food service industry" "For such a high-volume restaurant," "I used to think there was nothing to be done about it until I went to London and had a meal in a Chinese restaurant there." "I discovered there was no smoke smell there at all" "Why?" "The boss took me up to the roof" "And I saw this which is called a soot purifier" "The London city government required them to install it" "And the city inspects it regularly" "I thought it must be pretty high-tech until I came back to Beijing" "I found that not only does Beijing have them too installing them is actually required" "I called 12369 to make a report" "And a week later this item was delivered:" "It all took less than half an hour" "When I was taking this video clip" "The restaurant boss came over and said, "Thank you for your supervision as a resident here" "We hope to see you in our restaurant in the future"" "For the past year, our office lunches have been nothing but meat pies." "Sometimes when I walk by the neighborhood gas station" "(here's a gas station downstairs)" "I can smell the very strong scent of gasoline" "But I thought that all gas stations worldwide are like this until I went to the United States" "I saw this thing on their gas pump nozzles it's called "gasoline vapor recovery equipment"" "I thought it was another high-tech thing until I came back to Beijing and discovered" "We've had these things for ages and they've been required since 2008 but many people don't maintain them properly so they release a lot of gasoline vapor" "Then" "I called 12369 again" "If you look at it facing the sun, there's a lot coming out." "That means there's definitely a problem." "It's not normal to smell this kind of odor when you are filling the tank." "Do you see these gasoline vapors?" "There shouldn't be gasoline here." "Right." "It's wet here." "That means extra gasoline was spilled." "Right, fewer vapors went in." "Part of the gasoline vapors escaped and went into the atmosphere." "We will stop using it and it will be fixed immediately." "This requires that the gas station must every year conduct one compulsory inspection of its gasoline vapor recovery equipment." "You can call 12369." "That's our complaint hotline." "Will you definitely go check it out?" "Absolutely." "We go 100% of the time." "They promised that they would come 100% of the time." "Will they really come?" "I don't know, but by putting this sentence up here" "We'll see it as a kind of test" "We can remember this number 12369" "If you don't call that number" "Then it will forever remain just a number" "I've said that this wasn't a happy year for me" "I've felt like my life has been uncertain from day to day" "That's true" "Whenever the pollution was bad I didn't know where I'd be tomorrow or where I'd be in the future" "But still" "The moment the restaurant owner finished installing the smoke filtering device" "I suddenly felt like my feet had landed on solid ground" "It's a hard feeling to describe" "You know perfectly well that the effect on improving air quality is completely minuscule but if one person knows that because they did one small thing the situation actually improved a little bit that person can feel more at peace about things" "So when you look back at the war between people and pollution you see this is how history is made" "It's tens of millions of ordinary people" "One day they say "No."" "I'm not satisfied" "I don't want to wait" "I'm not going to shirk the responsibility" "I'm going to stand up and do something" "I'm going to do it" "Right now" "Right at this moment" "Right here" "I am going to do it" "Unless we bring these chemicals under better control" "We're certainly headed for disaster" "We're certainly headed for disaster" "This whole system that we call home" "People in Tokyo suffering from asthma are suing for compensation from the car factory owners of Tokyo and Japan for the harm caused by tailpipe emissions" "We have the right to know, the right to participate, the right to sue for damages" "Everyone join together" "Together we will make our generation's choice to go green successful" "If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it" "You grown ups say you love us" "Please, take action" "And for me, it is absolutely my responsibility to do whatever it takes to protect my child" "When the haze gets serious, there is at least one thing we can do." "That is to protect yourself and your loved ones." "When I drew this little bear on paper," "I was reminded of, when my daughter got sick, all my fear of losing her and all my hope of protecting her." "I wish that all other mothers in this world would not have to feel the same." "Now, she has grown up, healthy and recovered, sturdy and lively, and as chubby as before." "She is particularly fond of the nature and the small animals in it, but many times I cannot take her outdoor." "So in her own little pot, she has been raising a snail." "When she wakes up every morning, she runs to the pot and gives a puff to the snail, hoping to help it grow up." "She is so much in love with this world." "Tens of thousands of mothers are being pregnant with or giving birth to their children, to whom these rivers, skies and lands should belong." "We have no right to consume without controlling." "We have no right to complain without constructing." "We are responsible to prove to them that a world lit by energy can meanwhile be clean and beautiful." "Every time I look into the night sky, seeing this planet rotating lonely," "I sense a kind of indescribable attachment and warmth." "Someday in the future," "I'll leave this world, but my child will continue to live in it, so I'll still be involved." "And so I stare at it, just like I stare at you." "And so I protect it, as much as I protect you."