Public and private sector partner to combat China's rising emissions

BASF and China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection sign a new strategic agreement

The global chemicals company and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) are to begin an initiative aimed at addressing the deteriorating air quality in Beijing and North China.

Attached to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, CRAES focuses on both the industrialisation of key technologies and promoting green economic development.

Reducing vehicle exhaust emissions lie at the heart of the latest initiative, which follows a decade-long partnership between the two organisations, including gasoline and diesel testing labs in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

The new brief will see the partnership investigate the testing, assessment and monitoring of vehicle exhaust after-treatment devices. It will also conduct research on vehicle emissions during transit and the energy-saving capabilities of advanced technologies.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau has announced it will implement a surveillance network to monitor vehicles’ emissions compliance. The network, which will cover Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas, will aid law enforcement in identifying vehicles that do not meet the necessary emissions standards.

By the beginning of August there were over 5.5 million cars in Beijing, with a further 200,000 passing through the city each day.