Beijing Mayor Shares Experience in Improving the Environment

On the afternoon of November 27, working with Minister Tran Duc Thang, Mayor An Dung shared experiences in improving Beijing's environment and air quality.

Speaking with Mayor An Dung, Minister Tran Duc Thang commented that Beijing has made remarkable changes in the past 20 years regarding environmental issues. "I myself have been to Beijing many times and each time I return I see the difference," Minister Tran Duc Thang shared.

Currently, Vietnam is amending the Law on Environmental Protection, so the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment wants to listen to Beijing's sharing to gain experience in institutionalizing and improving the environmental pollution situation in big cities.

Minister Tran Duc Thang worked with Beijing Mayor An Dung on the afternoon of November 27. Photo: Tung Dinh.

With the determination to change the environment and air quality, Minister Tran Duc Thang hopes to hear from Mayor An Dung about this issue.

Congratulating Minister Tran Duc Thang on his new position, the Mayor of Beijing said the city's environmental and ecological issues are of particular concern to the people.

"During the process of economic development, there was a period when Beijing's environmental and air quality declined and seriously affected people's lives," the head of Beijing Capital shared.

3 obvious changes

Emphasizing the importance of environmental quality by central and local leaders, Mr. An Dung said that in the past 1-2 years, Beijing has made remarkable changes in improving air quality and the environment, demonstrated through 3 issues recognized by the people.

Firstly, Beijing's PM2.5 fine dust index has decreased significantly, specifically in 2024 it was 30.5 mcrg/m3, down 66% compared to 2023 and in 10 months of 2025 it was 26.5 mcrg/m3, the lowest in history. In 2024, there was only 1 day when Beijing's air index was at a heavily polluted level,

"In the past, Beijing residents often used the phrase 'APEC blue sky' to refer to blue sky days, like the time when the APEC conference was held more than 10 years ago. Now, blue sky has become a normal thing in our city," Mayor An Dung said.

Beijing's air quality is good, much improved compared to before. Photo: Tung Dinh.

The second problem is water quality. In China, which was divided into 6 levels, level 5 water no longer exists in Beijing. Miyun freshwater lake, the main source of water for the city, has reached level 2. In addition, Beijing's groundwater level has also been raised. From drilling 28-30 meters to having water, now drilling only 11 meters has groundwater and the rivers are no longer dry.

The third change lies in ecological quality, solving the problem of garbage surrounding the city. Previously, there was no place to bury or process garbage.

According to Mr. An Dung, after many measures, Beijing's daily waste treatment capacity is now higher than the amount of waste produced. At the same time, the city also digs up old landfills to reprocess, creating more land resources.

To combat desertification, Beijing has been planting forests because it is only a few dozen kilometers from the desert belt. The total forest area of ​​the city after 10 years of increased planting is 1,600 square kilometers, accounting for 10% of Beijing's total area. The greening and tree coverage rate of the Chinese capital is currently 50%, and it is honored as the "Forest City of the whole region" despite being in the North.

Mayor An Dung said that Beijing currently has 1,100 forest parks, known as the city of a thousand forest parks, and over the past two years has been promoting the garden city model, with beautiful landscapes everywhere.

"Currently, it takes almost the entire population of Beijing at least 15 minutes to reach parks, gardens, and green infrastructure," Mayor An Dung added.

Therefore, Beijing residents highly appreciate ecological environmental management through indicators related to air, water, waste and environmental greening.

Members of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment delegation participated in working with Beijing city. Photo: Tung Dinh.

5 air management solutions

Sharing his experience in improving air quality, the Mayor of Beijing said that first of all, development must be reduced, not allowing the level of development to exceed the limits of nature.

Specifically, some industries that are not suitable for the capital will be moved to neighboring localities. State-owned enterprises and public service units will be moved to Ha Bac, a neighboring locality.

"The Beijing municipal government also moved to the suburbs, just 3 kilometers away from Hebei. This helped more than 10,000 government employees and a total of 100,000 related people move out of the inner city area," said the head of Beijing city.

This de-development solution will be clearly reflected in the city's latest plans.

The second solution is to improve the capacity for clean energy. Specifically, completely eliminate coal and switch to other energy sources such as gas or electricity, mainly electricity.

Beijing still maintains the traditional fuel source of gasoline for cars, but they must meet Euro 6 emission standards to be allowed into circulation.

The third solution is integrated inter-regional management, reducing pollution for neighboring cities because the principle of air circulation easily spreads pollution from other places to Beijing.

The fourth solution is to find the source of pollution to handle. Mr. An Dung said, according to a survey by a professional agency, most of the pollution comes from motorbike exhaust, so most new vehicles use new fuel and electricity.

In addition, waste from people's daily activities also needs to be controlled. Restaurants are required to install air and dust filtration systems before releasing them into the environment.

At the same time, the city government requires the construction of green factories and clean construction sites by covering them with dust or making giant bubbles to work inside.

The fifth solution is to strengthen monitoring and handling. Specifically, building a multimedia monitoring system such as satellites, sensor systems, and random inspections to ensure that air pollution improvement work is thoroughly implemented.

"Once environmental violations are discovered, they will be dealt with very severely," the Mayor emphasized.

Mayor An Dung sincerely shared his experiences in improving the environment with the Vietnamese side. Photo: Tung Dinh.

The relationship between growth and pollution

Listening to Mayor An Dung's sharing, Minister Tran Duc Thang expressed his gratitude for the detailed and sincere information and valuable experiences for the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

However, the Minister also questioned Mayor An Dung about whether the above solutions would slow down Beijing's growth rate.

Regarding this issue, Mayor Yin Yong said that many Beijing residents had also worried like that. But in reality, Beijing's growth rate not only did not decrease but also increased.

According to Mr. An Dung, if previously Beijing's growth rate was similar to many big cities, in the last 3 years it has been 0.2% higher. The reason is that when the environmental quality is improved, it will attract industries suitable for the capital.

For example, in recent years Beijing has promoted education, science and technology, attracting many talents in these fields due to its clean environment, unlike before when it only attracted workers.

"Although some large businesses that are not suitable have to move to other cities, so the population has decreased a bit, the quality of people has improved, so it is still developing sustainably and stably," Mr. An Dung emphasized.

Along with that, the policy of Chinese leaders, specifically General Secretary Xi Jinping, is to attach importance to synchronous development with neighboring localities such as Hebei and Tianjin, so the industries moving from Beijing are suitable for these two localities and all three develop together.

In response to this explanation, Minister Tran Duc Thang sincerely thanked Mayor An Dung for his extremely valuable experiences that Vietnam can learn from.

The Minister is confident that with the mayor's leadership, dedication and understanding, Beijing will develop even more strongly in the coming time.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/thi-truong-bac-kinh-chia-se-kinh-nghiem-cai-thien-moi-truong-d786928.html