As coronavirus wreaks havoc, China also faces a more familiar foe: smog

Fears of a deadly virus outbreak have kept much of China inside for the past three weeks. For people living in the country’s capital region, though, another menace has infected the air: thick layers of smog whose presence has puzzled people looking at a city where roads and industry have gone silent.

The problem lies in places such as Handan, China, where Hongri Steel Co. continues to operate like usual. “All of our factory workers are on the job,” said Pan Xusheng, who works in marketing at Hongri. Part of this is normal. While the rest of the country takes off work for the Lunar New Year break, which this year has been extended because of the virus, some heavy industry continues apace.

“People’s sentiment toward smog is understandable,” he added. “But from our professional point of view, the country’s basic emissions are relatively high, patterns of energy use have not changed, and the coal is still a primary source.” “It just reminds us that we need to focus more on the restructuring of the industrial structure in this region,” he said. “It’s still too heavy, too energy-intensive.”He is optimistic that change is under way. Some of the largest banks in China have sought Mr. Ma’s help for data on the environmental performance of different companies. He hopes that will lead to changes in lending that will push polluters to change.

There has been “a lot of talk about stimulus and nothing about which sectors should be targeted. There would be a lot of potential to stimulate the clean energy sectors which have been struggling recently, for example. But without guidance, the money will just flow to the same old unneeded projects.”

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