Nitrogen dioxide levels creep up in China as factories restart - report

Rising pollution levels appear to show a small industrial pick-up in China, according to analysis of Nasa satellite imagery.

Chinese authorities instigated a wide-spread clampdown on economic activity following the recent coronavirus outbreak, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan, in the Hubei region, last December. Millions of people have been kept off work, travel has been restricted, and companies and factories were shut.

Nasa satellite data in February saw a dramatic reduction in levels of nitrogen dioxide – a noxious gas emitted by motor vehicles, power plants and industrial facilities – from late January, after the quarantine measures were first introduced. Nasa scientists said the reduction was “partly related” to the drop-off in economic activity in China

But according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, citing analysis by Finland's Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, nitrogen dioxide in China’s atmosphere has risen nearly 50% since 17 February.

That remains around 20% below the same period a year earlier, however, with not all regions reporting significant increases.

In Hubei, a key steel-making region, nitrogen dioxide levels are now above last year’s, and in the coal-producing Shanxi region levels are approaching those of 2019. But in Guangdong, another core coal-producing area, levels remain below the previous year's, as they do in Zhejiang, a manufacturing hub.