N. China to Set Up Joint Environmental Agency

The smog-prone northern Chinese region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei will set up a joint environmental protection agency to coordinate the region’s war on pollution, the official China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

The new agency, part of wider efforts to improve cross-regional environmental governance, will be in place by the end of the year, the paper said, citing Ministry of Environmental Protection officials, Reuters reported.

The region, also known as Jing-Jin-Ji, was home to eight of China’s 10 smoggiest cities in September and is involved in a winter campaign that will slash industrial output and restrict traffic to meet air quality targets. Creating unified environmental standards across the region was a key element of a regional economic integration plan launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014.

According to academic studies, around a third of the smog drifting across the capital, Beijing, originates in neighboring Hebei, China’s biggest steel-producing region and also a major producer of cement. Regulators have already promised to establish a unified system of environmental governance that will create cross-regional emission standards and prevent non-compliant firms in Beijing from shifting operations to neighboring Hebei.

They have also vowed to implement coordinated emergency response plans during heavy smog outbreaks.