“The National People’s Congress, where top legislators meet once a year, coincides with some of Beijing’s most polluted days,” Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at the company, said in an e-mailed report to Bloomberg. “With the new government taking shape, we expect China to accelerate the pace of taking measures to reduce pollution.”
Air quality readings by the U.S. Embassy in China reached 993 micrograms per cubic meter on Jan. 12 in Beijing for PM2.5, according to Bernstein. That refers to airborne pollutants smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which are able to penetrate deep into lungs and even the blood stream, raising risks of heart and lung diseases.
China’s state-owned PetroChina and Sinopec may spend 52 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) in the next five years to cut the sulfur content in its gasoline and diesel to meet new emissions standards.
