Policy Memo - Bin Feng

To: the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China

From: Bin Feng

Subject: Addressing fog and haze problem in Beijing

Date: 11/09/2014

Background:

Fog and haze are two kinds of weather phenomena. Fog is referred to as water droplets suspended in the air near earth's surface, which reduces the visibility to less than 1km. A fog consisting of ice crystals is called ice fog. Haze is the parties suspended in the air that reduce visibility by scattering the light, and is usually a mixture of aerosol and photochemical smog. 

In the recent decades, due to the rapid economic growth and climate change, haze and fog frequently occurred in Beijing have become more intense, harming human health, affecting people's daily life, and threatening the sustainable development of economy and society. How to mitigate and control haze and fog are very important issues with widespread concerns by the public and government at all levels.

Beijing is the capital city of China, with a population of 11.51 million and 5 million vehicles. The fog and haze problem appears more significantly in Beijing than other cities. The average PM2.5 measurement during December 2013 in Beijing can be as high as 480 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

The policy options:

1 Status Quo

Beijing can remain the current policy. 

Pros: There is no additional cost for the government, and it is very fair to everyone.

Cons: It cannot solve the fog and haze problem. With the growing of populations and vehicles, it will become an even worse situations, and the problem can be expanded to inner cities as well.

2 Policies on controlling air pollutant emission

The emission of pollutant into the air is the prerequisite for air pollution. Policies in controlling of air pollutant can be adopted. Many detailed policies can be drafted, for example, using new green energy to replace the traditional energy. The ministry can promote innovations in public policies to encourage people to use new type of energy, for example, electricity, solar energy, wind energy, etc instead of the old type of energy(coal) to make it more environmental friendly. Car pollution is a big reason to cause fog and haze in China, and to promote the usage of clean resources or hybrid resource based car will have a big impact to the problem.

Pros: This will solve the problem from the root, and it can have positive impact to the whole environment that we are living in. So it is very effective and equal to everyone.

Cons: This can be costly and hard to implement in a short time, therefore less efficient.

3 Policies on limiting private vehicles and promoting public transportations

Encourage people to use public transportation instead of driving their own vehicles on the road. The roads in many of China's cities are growing more and more crowded because of increasing number of private vehicles. Utilizing public transportations, for example, bus, light rails, trains can not only reduce the amount of traffic in the road, but also make the traffic more smooth. People can also benefit from usage of public transportations, because the price is cheaper and they can avoid uncertainty of traffic to get destination on time.

Pros: This policy may be the easiest way to be implemented, and it is less costly for the government to make the change. It is also very efficient for the problem, and it also has a high political acceptability.

Cons: This policy may not be fair to those people who has private vehicles. So it is less fair.

In general:

Options	Efficiency	Effectiveness	Equity	Ease of political acceptability
Status quo	一	一	十	十
Controlling air pollutant emission	一	十	十	〇
Limiting private vehicles and promoting public transportations	十	〇	一	〇

References:
1 Addressing the issue of fog and haze: A promising perspective from meteorological science and technology, Mu Mu, Zhang RenHe
2 Smog Shrouds Eastern China: Image of the Day http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82535