环保专家：2015年北京空气质量有所改善

An improvement in Beijing’s air quality last year compared with 2014 may have had more to do with weather patterns than with a decline in emissions¹, environmental experts say.

环保专家表示，2015年北京的空气质量相对于2014年有所改善，可能更多是因为天气模式，而非排放量下降。

The Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said the average concentration of PM2.5 particles — used as a proxy² for measuring air quality — at 81 microgrammes per cubic metre, was down 6 per cent from 2014’s average of nearly 86 microgrammes and 10 per cent from 90 in 2013. The World Health Organisation’s standard for safe air is an annual mean of 10 microgrammes.

北京市环保局表示，2015年空气质量衡量指标PM2.5颗粒的平均浓度是每立方米81微克，比2014年近86微克的平均值降低了6%，比2013年90微克的平均值降低了10%。世界卫生组织(WHO)的空气安全标准是年平均10微克。

The bureau said Beijing’s “number of days of most serious PM2.5 pollution is falling each year” but environmental experts pointed³ out that the city had declared its first two pollution red alerts — the highest level of danger — in December. A red alert triggers the closure of schools, restrictions⁴ on factory production and the removal of half the city’s vehicles from the roads.

北京市环保局表示，北京“PM2.5污染最严重的天数每年都在下降”，但环保专家指出，北京市在12月发布了第一次和第二次空气污染红色预警，这是危险级别最高的预警。在红色预警下，学校关闭、工厂生产受限，全市一半的车辆被禁止上路。

Ma Jun, an environmental campaigner and head of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the capital’s air quality appeared to improve in the first 10 months of 2015 compared with the same period a year earlier.

公众与环境研究中心(Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs)主任、环保活动人士马军表示，在2015年的头10个月，北京空气质量似乎较上年同期有所改善。

“But I’m not sure whether that’s the result of fewer emissions,” he said, noting that the deterioration⁵ in air quality in the final two months of the year “was due to wind and humidity”. Beijing’s air quality “is affected⁶ more by that of nearby regions than before,” he added.

“但我不确定这是否是排放量减少的结果，”他表示。他指出，北京空气质量在2015年最后两个月的恶化“是因为风和湿度”。他还补充道，北京的空气质量“比之前在更大程度上受到邻近地区空气质量的影响。”

Dong Liansai, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace East Asia, said: “Air quality is far from an issue which affects only Beijing. Northeastern China, the central China plain, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and even southwestern cities such as Chengdu are severely⁷ affected by smog, and a number of red alerts have been in place in cities other than just Beijing.”

绿色和平(Greenpeace)东亚气候和能源活动人士董连赛表示：“空气质量问题绝非仅仅影响北京。中国东北、中部平原、北京-天津-河北地区，乃至成都等西南城市都受到了雾霾的严重影响，除北京之外的一些城市也发布了数次红色预警。”

Greenpeace announced in October that PM2.5 levels for China had dropped in the first three quarters of last year, but nearly 80 per cent of the 367 cities measured “still greatly exceed both national and international air quality standards”.

绿色和平2015年10月份宣布，中国的PM2.5水平在2015年头3个季度下降了，但在观测的367个城市中，近80%的城市的空气质量“仍然大幅超过国家和国际空气质量标准”。