In 2013 Beijing burned 22 million tons of coal.
Cai Qi is the mayor of Beijing and he has had enough, in a recent announcement he has upped the ante and stated that in 2017 the total amount of coal burned in Beijing will be 7 million tons.
This is a Mayor who is making some incredible changes.
The Chinese metropolis of Beijing has become synonymous with filthy air, and the time for that to change has come. It began with a commitment from Mr. Qi to cut the amount of coal burned down to 10 million tons, but this wise leader has decided to make even deeper cuts.
There has been backlash, cries of madness and struggles to find ways to cope with the innovative plan.
With some of the dirtiest air in the world, Mr. Qi is doing what has to be done.
One of his first initiatives was to replace all of the petroleum powered buses in Beijing with new electric buses. The problem then became how to generate the power to run them.
With this inspired move, the impetus for cleaner generation is growing stronger.
Natural gas is likely to fill the generation gap in the short term, and greener solutions are also in the pipeline.
In addition to getting coal under control, Mr. Qi is getting tough on gas burning automobiles.
The Mayor has announced that as many as 300,000 petroleum powered cars will be taken of the roads in Beijing this year, and replaced with EV’s.
One of the biggest criticisms of the electric bus initiative was that most of Beijing’s power was made with coal.
It would appear that Mayor Qi took charge of the situation, and is making the hard changes that will make all of the difference.
With major policy actions like this, it is easy to see a bright green future coming into view for China.
[via treehugger]
