Beijing's key pollution reading down 20 pct in Jan-Aug

Beijing saw its primary air-pollution index reading fall 20 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2022, official data showed Monday.

The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 28 micrograms per cubic meter in the January-August period, said the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau. The reading in August was 19 micrograms per cubic meter, the lowest for a single month this year.

PM2.5 readings are a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or below in diameter.

Local authorities in the city have taken numerous measures to tackle air pollution this year, including strengthening inspection of pollution sources.

From January to August, the average concentrations of PM10 and nitrogen dioxide were also down 14.5 percent and 16 percent, year on year, respectively, the bureau added.

Beijing made a breakthrough in its air pollution control last year. The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 33 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, the lowest level since records began in 2013.