Economics
Beijing’s Haze Makes a Climate U-Turn Unlikely After Trump
- China is world’s biggest clean-energy market by capacity
- President Xi Jinping has vowed crackdown on worst polluters
People wear masks on a polluted day in Beijing on Nov. 18.
Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Beijing’s air quality fell short of national standards on 179 days last year. That’s one reason why the world’s biggest coal consumer is likely to stick with its plan to clean up its energy supply -- regardless of what President-elect Donald Trump does in the U.S.
“At the current stage of China’s economic growth, the industries and the models that the nation has developed all face constraints related to the environment and resources,” said Xuan Xiaowei, a senior research fellow at a government think tank called the Development Research Center of the State Council. “Environmental pollution is so serious. Can it work without green development?”