Hazardous Duty Pay

[Randy W]

Coca-Cola offers expats China pollution hazard pay

American beverage giant Coca-Cola is offering a hefty “environmental hardship allowance” to its ­China-based expatriate employees, as foreign companies struggle to attract and retain staff with many people scared off by chronic pollution.

 

 

. . .

 

 

Australian architectural firm ­Hassell provides its staff in China with face masks to travel to and from work. It also changes its air filters every week during periods of heavy pollution.

 

. . .

 

Japanese electronics firm Panasonic started in April paying its expatriate staff in China “hazard pay” to compensate them for the dangerous air quality. At the time it was believed to be the first major global corporation to do so.

 

 

. . .

 

 

Peter Arkell, managing director Asia for recruitment firm Swann ­Global, said the Coca-Cola allowance showed the company was having ­trouble retaining and attracting staff to China. “I hear more and more stories about executives not extending their contracts because they don’t think China is a good place to bring up a ­family,” he said.

 

. . .

 

 

The Australian Financial Review

 

 

 

[lhp]

On that point:

 

Pollution cuts life spans by 5.5 years in north China, study says

An examination of 20 years of data from across China finds that heavy air pollution is to blame for the drop in life expectancy in the north.

BEIJING — Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a new study examining 20 years of data has determined.

The research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by four economists in China, the U.S. and Israel, examined air quality readings collected in 90 Chinese cities from 1981 to 2000 and compared those with mortality data collected at 145 locations across the country from 1991 to 2000.

Other studies have established strong correlations between air pollution and poor health and attempted to quantify the loss of life in China due to air pollution. But the specificity of the study published Monday may provide a jolt to policymakers and the public as debate intensifies over how much China has sacrificed to achieve rapid economic growth.

The researchers found that a seemingly arbitrary Mao-era economic policy on coal-fired boilers for winter heating created dramatic differences in air quality within China. North of the Huai River, the government provided free coal, while to the south, people were essentially denied central heat. In effect, this policy created two experimental groups that could be compared with each other, and the impact of burning coal on air quality — and on health — could be isolated and quantified.

Follow the link for the whole article.

Edited July 27, 2014 by lhp (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Even south of the Yangtze, coal may not be used to fuel municipal heating systems (residents are free to use heat their homes, usually with heat exchangers, which also provide air conditioning), but it's still an almost universal source of energy - from brick making to metal working, and other industries. Coal smokestacks are ubiquitous. As I've said before, I view coal emissions as a benchmark of the extent (or LACK) of pollution control in China.

 

This article is from the New York Times

 

China’s Plan to Limit Coal Use Could Spur Consumption for Years

Strict limits are also likely to face opposition from the powerful coal industry and allied officials, said Ailun Yang, a senior associate at the World Resources Institute in Washington who works on emissions and energy policy in China. Growth in coal use has slowed markedly in the past couple of years, but the China National Coal Association said last year that it expected the country to consume 4.8 billion metric tons annually by 2020.

“The real debate is about how to engage the big state-owned fossil-fuel companies, and also the big provinces whose economies are very, very dependent on these industries,” Ms. Yang said.

On the other side, some economists argue that bold efforts to reduce coal consumption would be an economic and environmental boon in the long term by encouraging new, clean modes of growth.

And, experts say, there is new pressure on the government from rising domestic anger over smog. Coal burned in power plants, boilers and furnaces is a main source of the grimy pollution that swamps Beijing and other cities, and many steps to cut smog would also cut carbon emissions.

“The whole air pollution situation has changed the debate dramatically,” Ms. Yang said. “There’s a lot more political space to argue for control measures.”

. . .

 

“Without a national cap, there is a real danger that coal production and air pollution will simply move to other parts of China,” Ms. Finamore said.

 

[Randy W]

Protests in Beijing with coverage in the Global Times

 

Shades of grey

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2011/2a85a06e-b5ce-4881-8b71-c2dce08206d3.jpeg

 

An activist stands in front of the China Central Television tower with a poster that reads "where has the blue sky gone?" in Beijing on Friday, as the heavy smog haunts the capital city. Similar performance art was staged at five other landmark buildings in the city by activists to call for public attention to air pollution. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province are likely to continue suffering from dense smog on Saturday. Photo: CFP

 

[Randy W]

Tower turned to UFO in Beijing's haze

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/beijingpollution3.jpg

 

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/Beijingpollutionn.jpg

[Randy W]

More coverage in the Global Times - kind of a sad statement of the Chinese approach to dealing with pollution

 

‘Dirtiest city’ faces massive lay-offs while cleaning up air

 

In 2013, the provincial government issued an order to reduce steel production and clean up the air, but that caused unemployment and left the Xingtai government in debt.

 

. . .

 

shutting down factories has caused unemployment and a reduction in taxes paid to the Xingtai local government, which is already in debt.

 

. . .

 

"There's no call for improvement measures […] the government just won't let you operate any more because it needs to clean up the air pollution," he told the Nandu Weekly.

At the same time, another Xingtai resident who ran an oil mill for 20 years, was told to shut down his business as well. He says that he can't make a living now.

 

[Randy W]

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2011/e7f2a136-a402-4198-b41e-4003895ad75a.jpg

[Randy W]

The cost of China’s dependence on coal – 670,000 deaths a year

http://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/140409093702-pol28-police-pollution-china.jpg?w=1024

 

A new study has revealed the staggering cost of China’s dependence on coal to power its economy: 670,000 deaths in one year alone.

The study, by Tsinghua University associate professor Teng Fei, lays bare the extent of the country’s pollution problem that is the darkest side effect of the country’s rapid growth over the last 20 years: over 70% of China’s 1.4 billion population are exposed to pollution levels above national regulatory norms, and over 10% are exposed to concentrations of harmful particles 10 times the level considered safe by the U.N.’s World Health Organization.

The study underlines how immediate and pressing pollution and public health issues are driving the discussion in China over industrial emissions, in contrast to considerations of long-term climate change prevalent in the West. It’s also a powerful reminder of why Beijing is trying to re-orient its economy away from energy-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing.

Coal, by far the “dirtiest” of the major fossil fuels in terms of emissions, accounts for over two-thirds of China’s primary energy supply. Although Beijing has taken tentative steps to reduce its importance, such as banning the development of new coal mines in the country’s more developed eastern provinces, coal will still be over 50% of total energy supply even in 2040, according to official U.S. estimates.

 

 

 

This is also in the South China Morning Post at 670,000 deaths a year the cost of China's reliance on coal

[Mick]

Going back and reviewing the photos and some of the articles in this thread, there can be little doubt that dealing with air pollution is China's No. 1 issue. With 670,000 deaths a year attributed directly to pollution from coal burning, there is great pressue on the central goverment to do something. Yet no matter what they do, there will be negative results in terms of loss of jobs, bankrupt businesses that are forced to close, etc. Unemployment will increase. Still, it seems to me they have no choice at this juncture - the air in some of those photos, like the one with the UFO tower and the disappearing building on Oct. 10 and 11, is toxic beyond belief. Perhaps they can focus more on eco-friendly energy sources, retrain some of the laid off workers, and enforce strict policies to improve the air. What is depressing, however, is the statement that even in 2040 over half the country's energy supply will come from coal.

[Randy W]

Between the cars and the bar-b-q stands, the Chinese authorities have a lot they can crack down on before they make any real progress

 

Beijing wants to keep 'APEC blue'

 

 

Beijing plans to phase out around 1 million vehicles with low emission standards, a move toward allowing residents to enjoy the same good air quality experienced during the recent APEC meeting.

 

Fang Li, deputy chief of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said that getting rid of the 1 million vehicles with emission standards meeting the National Phase I and II - equivalent to Euro 1 and 2 - would greatly reduce air pollutants.

 

. . .

 

Of the 5.5 million vehicles in Beijing, less than20 percent are in the lowest emission categories. But each emits five times the emissions of a vehicle meeting the latest national standard, said Li Kunsheng, director in charge of exhaust emission at the bureau.

 

How and when the government will phase out vehicles with heavy emissions is still under discussion, Fang said.

 

 

[Randy W]

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/shang_shanghaiist/beijing-air-pollution-01.jpg

[tsap seui]

And those Beijingerites pay a helluva lot of money per m2 to live in that "cloud of crud". And so it goes. Maybe the party can will it away, acting like it isn't there isn't seeming to work too well.

[Doug]

 

Between the cars and the bar-b-q stands, the Chinese authorities have a lot they can crack down on before they make any real progress

 

Beijing wants to keep 'APEC blue'

 

 

Beijing plans to phase out around 1 million vehicles with low emission standards, a move toward allowing residents to enjoy the same good air quality experienced during the recent APEC meeting.

 

Fang Li, deputy chief of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said that getting rid of the 1 million vehicles with emission standards meeting the National Phase I and II - equivalent to Euro 1 and 2 - would greatly reduce air pollutants.

 

. . .

 

Of the 5.5 million vehicles in Beijing, less than20 percent are in the lowest emission categories. But each emits five times the emissions of a vehicle meeting the latest national standard, said Li Kunsheng, director in charge of exhaust emission at the bureau.

 

How and when the government will phase out vehicles with heavy emissions is still under discussion, Fang said.

 

 

 

It really pisses me off when, here again, a government is going after the cars in a strong way, but not the industries. We have technology to clean up industry. They just don't want to use it. It is a bunch of lip service in China, take it out on individual's cars, oh yea the cars are the problem,