Timeline of pollution in China

This is a timeline of pollution in China.

Big picture

Time period	Development summary
1950s	". Back in the 1950s, Chairman Mao ordered that residents north of the river receive free heating from the coal-powered plants"
1970s	"Economic reforms in the late 1970s that encouraged development in rural industries further exacerbated the problem" China begins to use law to combat pollution and protect its natural environment.
1980s	"Epidemiological studies conducted since the 1980s in northern China suggest that poor air quality in Chinese cities causes significant health complications, including respiratory, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular diseases" "Air pollution levels in the main Chinese cities at the beginning of the 1980s were almost exactly at the level of London at the height of the Industrial Revolution in 1890 "

Full timeline

Year	Month and date	Category	Event type	Details
1972				After the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the Chinese Government begins to develop environmental institutions.
1978				The Third Chinese Constitution is issued with inclusion of an environmental commission.
1979				The Chinese Government issues an Environmental Protection Law on a trial basis.
1981 - 2000				Research shows that air pollution was 55% higher in the northern region of China during the period.
1982				The Chinese legislature enacts the Marine Environmental Protection Law.
1984				The Chinese legislature enacts the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law.
1984				The Chinese legislature establishes the Forest Law as measure of nature conservation.
1985				The Chinese legislature establishes the Grasslands Law as measure of nature conservation.
1987				The Chinese legislature enacts the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law.
1989				The Chinese Government formally issues an Environmental Protection Law.
1990 - 2015				According to Global Burden of Disease Study, estimated China’s annual premature deaths attributable to PM2.5 and O3 average values of around 1 to 1.2 million deaths in the period.
1996				The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law is amended.
2000				The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law is amended.
2002				A new Environmental Impact Assessment Law in amended.
2003				The Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning determines that air pollution is responsible for 411,000 premature deaths across China.
2006 - 2010				China starts to seriously control air pollution by limiting emissions for each province.
2007				China ranks the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, overtaking the United States, and being responsible for 27 percent of global emissions in the year.
2007				The year is known as China’s “first year of climate change communication research.”
2008				Study suggests that reductions in air pollution only happens after the Chinese government creates the Ministry of Environmental Protection. After its creation, among the many changes in environmental policy, the MEP starts to gather reliable SO2 emissions data from continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) at the prefecture level and increases the number of enforcement officials by 17 percent. Further study suggests that reductions in air pollution in China only happens after the creation of the MEP.
2010				The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection estimates the cost of pollution at around 1.5 trillion RMB (US$227 billion), or roughly 3.5 percent of the GDP.
2010				Chinese census data calculates that nearly half of households primarily use solid fuels for cooking, and four out of five of these households are in rural areas.
2010				The ambient air pollution in China is estimated by the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) to lead to 1.2 million premature deaths from one year’s (2010) exposure in the country.
2012 - 2014				The National Energy Agency claims that coal use dropped to 64.2 percent of the mix in 2014, down almost two percent from 2012.
2013	January - February			Severe haze covers many provinces and cities in China. The haze with its unprecedentedly high index of PM2.5 concentration and extremely low visibility provoques worldwide concern and eventually becomes known as the “PM2.5 crisis”.
2013				The Chinese Government claims declaring war on pollution. Among the efforts to curb smog, these include closing down or moving heavily polluting factories and restrictions on the use of cars.
2013				Chinese politician Chen Jiping, the former leading member of the party’s Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs, states that environmental issues are a major reason for “mass incidents” in the country, estimating unofficial gatherings of one hundred or more that range from peaceful protest to rioting.
2013	March			More than 7,500 dead pigs are found in the Huangpu river. The news is spread rapidly online. An estimated 16,000 diseased pig carcasses are found in tributaries of the river.
2013 <				"The market for devices that help keep indoor air clean by filtrating outdoor air before it enters the dwelling has sky rocketed since 2013 along with increasing use of face masks – now even available in fashionable patterns – meant to protect people from breathing polluted air"
2013	December			The China’s National Development and Reform Commission issues its first nationwide blueprint for climate change, outlining an extensive list of objectives for 2020.
2014	January			"Since January 2014, the central government has required fifteen thousand factories, including large state-owned enterprises, to publicly report real-time figures on air emissions and water discharges. "
2014				"China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, having overtaken the United States in 2007, and was responsible for 27 percent of global emissions in 2014."
2014	March			": Chinese Premier Li Keqiang declared a “war on pollution” in March 2014; "
2014	May			"in May of the same year the government strengthened the country’s Environmental Protection Law for the first time in twenty-five years. "
2014				A record 17 million new cars on the road are calculated in the year, further contributing to China’s high emissions.
2014	November			" In a November 2014 joint statement on climate change with the United States, China committed to hit its peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to have renewables account for 20 percent of its energy mix by 2030. "
2014		Water pollution		Groundwater supplies in more than 60 percent of major cities are categorized as “bad to very bad,” and more than a quarter of China’s key rivers are considered “unfit for human contact.”
2014				China stands as one of the biggest investors in renewables, investing nearly US$90 billion in the year as part of its pledge to cut its carbon intensity, an amount far outspending the United States’ US$51.8 billion.
2014				Approximately 4 billion tons of coal are consumed in the country in the year, more than the rest of the world combined.
2015				The national coal power plant capacity increases by 55 percent in the first six months, 155 new coal-fired plants are approved, and the Chinese Government admits that it has underreported its annual coal consumption since 2000.
2015	March			Under the Dome, a documentary on China’s air pollution, goes viral, attracting hundreds of thousands of views before internet censors blocked access.
2015				Estimates calculate about 1.5 million premature deaths in China attributable to PM2.5 exposure in the year, of which about 60 per cent were due to ambient PM2.5 pollution and about 40 per cent to household air pollution.
2015				"The rate of deaths attributable to air pollution in total in 2015 (i.e. including ambient PM2.5, ozone and HAP) is estimated at about 115 deaths per 100,000 people. For comparison, the estimated figure for India was 138 deaths per 100,000 people, 49 in Japan, 43 in Western Europe and 31 in the US"
2015		Water pollution		A reported 3.78 billion cubic meters of untreated wastewater was discharged across China in the year. This is water that has been ruled unusable for agricultural, industrial and even decorative purposes dumped into rivers and lakes.
2016				The Regional Ozone Sino-US Collaborative Research Center is established at Duke Kunshan University. It is the first research institute for ozone pollution control in the country.
2016	September			The Innovative Financing for Air Pollution Control in Jing-Jin-Ji Region Program is launched, with the goal to finance projects helping to reduce coal consumption.
2017				". More recently, President Xi Jinping, on a state visit to Washington, announced that China would initiate a national cap-and-trade emissions program in 2017."
2017				"The China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection calculates an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 43 µg/m3 for China’s cities in 2017, more than 4 times the level of 10 µg/m3 recommended by the WHO."
2017	October	Policy		China halts more than 150 coal-fired power plants after launching first regional Environmental Protection Bureau to consolidate cuts in air pollution following party conference. The measures are a part of an aggressive action plan that aims to cut wintertime particulate pollution by 15% year-on-year over the next five months.
2018	July			Government initiates three-year plan to curb air pollution, released, making certain provisions for ozone control, such as compelling manufacturers to repair and replace VOC-emitting installations and applying legal upper limits on VOC concentration in paints, inks, and adhesives.
2018	September	Light pollution		Chinese scientists from the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth conduct nighttime light pollution research using a domestically-produced remote sensing satellite.

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by User:Sebastian.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

Feedback and comments

Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:

• FIXME

See also

• Timeline of pollution
• Timeline of pollution in Beijing
• Timeline of pollution in India