Smog

Beijing is to raise the thresholds for issuing its highest air pollution warnings, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Feb. 22, two months after acrid smog triggered the city's first ever "red alerts." 

More than a million private cars were banned from New Delhi's roads on Jan. 1, as authorities began testing drastic new measures to cut smog in the world's most polluted capital.

For 15 days from Jan. 1, private cars will only be allowed on the city's roads every other day to try to reduce pollutant levels, which regularly hit 10 times the World Health Organization's safe limits.

Millions of Delhi residents will have to find alternative ways to work from Friday, when authorities launch a trial of draconian traffic restrictions to try to clean up the world's most polluted capital.

A veil of smog has covered Athens again. As temperatures soar in Athens to single-digit figures, a number of people are seeking warmth – especially in the northern suburbs – by lighting up their fireplaces oblivious to warnings issued by the Environment Ministry. Use of fireplaces have resulted in pockets of smog hovering over certain distructs.

I was in Beijing last week. I was lucky because there was a breeze during my stay. Without it, the sky is gray throughout, and the smog makes you cough incessantly. 

China warned residents across a large part of its north on Dec. 18 to prepare for a wave of choking smog arriving over the weekend, the worst of which is expected over Beijing, prompting the capital to issue its second ever "red alert."

Beijing has upgraded its alert for air pollution from orange to red on Monday afternoon.

This is the first time the capital has issued a red alert. The red alert, which is the most serious warning on a four-tier system, means authorities have forecast more than three consecutive days of severe smog.

Beijing ordered hundreds of factories to shut and allowed children to skip school as choking smog reached over 25 times safe levels on Dec. 1, casting a cloud over China's participation in Paris climate talks.

EU Commission plans for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six key pollutants, including NOx, particulates and sulphur dioxide, were endorsed by Parliament. Air pollution causes about 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, and the plans could save up to €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030.

Indonesia agreed Oct. 8 to accept international help to combat forest and agricultural fires cloaking Southeast Asia in haze, after weeks of failed attempts to douse the blazes that have infuriated its neighbours.