Beijing's mayor urges "all-out effort" to curb air pollution

Sui-Lee Wee in Reuters: Beijing's mayor pledged on Thursday to cut coal use by 2.6 million tonnes and set aside 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) to improve air quality this year as part of the city's "all-out effort" to tackle air pollution, state news agency Xinhua said.

The announcement by Wang Anshun came as the capital was blanketed in its worst smog in months. An index measuring PM2.5 particles, especially bad for health, reached 500 in much of the capital in the early hours.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers a level above 300 hazardous. Coal-burning boilers inside Beijing's fifth ring road - covering the built-up area of the city - will be eliminated and measures taken against coal burning in the capital's periphery, Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.

The city also aims to ban all heavily polluting vehicles this year, cut new car registrations and promote new energy vehicles, Wang said....

Heavy smog in Tianamen Square, shot by McKay Savage, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license