Pollution levels reached high alert in Hong Kong after the government warned of a serious risk to public health and advised members of the public to reduce or avoid physical exertion to a minimum. Levels of ozone and particulates are higher than normal. The health risk is very high for children, the elderly and people with existing heart or respiratory illnesses.

Results have shown that if China takes strong measures now to reduce its ozone pollution, it could save hundreds of thousands of lives according to a new study led by Columbia University. The article states that Air pollution is a major issue in China and is a serious health risk. Research has shown that in 2015 pollution has caused 67,000 premature deaths however, a new study, published today in Environmental Research Letters, finds that the situation could become quite a bit worse in the future.

According to the World Health Organisation, 90% of the world’s population live with toxic air pollution. The issue has been declares as a ‘global health emergency’. China has been referenced alongside India, which have some of the world’s most polluted cities. China has long faced some of the worst air pollution in the world, blamed on its reliance of coal for energy and factory production, as well as a surplus of older, less efficient cars on its roads. Inadequate controls on industry and lax enforcement of standards have worsened the pollution problem.

China is losing 14 terawatt-hours in lost solar energy production due to its air pollution, including carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. Such pollution has been taking a toll on human and environmental health amid China’s rapid industrialisation.

With a greater instance of coronary atherosclerosis amongst the population of China, this could and is likely down to the heavy air pollution across the country. It has been estimated that more than 95% of the Chinese population was exposed to higher-than-acceptable concentrations of PM2.5 nitrogen dioxide in 2015 and the implications of toxic air pollutants in China could be enormous.

China still has some of the worst pollution in the world and this is cutting the amount and generation of electricity of the solar panels by 11% to 15%. If the country were to boost the capacity, this could reach $6billion by 2030. China has had a campaign for clean air since 2013 but ‘the situation is grim and there is a long way to go.’

China’s climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions hit 12.3 billion tonnes in 2014, up 53.5% in just a decade, the environment ministry said on Monday, citing the country’s latest carbon “inventory” submitted to the United Nations. China’s carbon emissions data is notoriously opaque, but as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Beijing is obliged to submit an official inventory to the UN on a regular basis. It has previously released figures for 2005 and 2010.

The article states that China’s appetite for travelling on cruise ships has drastically increased, with the number of Chinese tourists tripling since 2014. This has sparked concern regarding the consequential damage to the environment, due to the rise in cruise ship liners to accommodate this increasing demand.

New research has discovered that air pollution has a drastic effect on China’s citizens, leading to cardiovascular disease. This was following a study conducted on 8,867 Chinese adults aged between 25 and 92, which found that long-term exposure to pollution was associated with a build-up of plaque in the arteries.

The article states that air pollution in China is on the rise. According to a research, this is not only dramatically affecting its citizens’ health, but it is also blocking out adequate levels of sunlight from reaching the solar panels.