Beijing cleaned up its act for the Olympics. After the party, will it go back to business as usual or consolidate environmental gains and be an example for China?
 | Beijing built new subway lines prior to the Olympics, increasing capacity from 1.3 to 2.9 million (Photo: Reuters) |
This summer, the skies cleared, the stadiums sparkled, and China topped the medals table. The long-term legacy of the Olympic Games for China, however, is less certain. Beijing's facelift cost many people their homes and jobs, but it also showed that chronic pollution can be tackled, and that sustainable development is possible.
To make way for stunning stadiums like the "Bird's News" and the "Water Cube", the local government demolished some of Beijing's traditional ‘hutong' neighborhoods. The residents, many of whom had lived there for generations, had to move to new houses provided by the government elsewhere.
The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) says that one and a half million residents were displaced in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, though official sources put the figure at 600,000. COHRE says something similar happens in every city hosting the Olympics. "The costs of the ‘new face' are borne by the poor," says COHRE.
Since Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001, the municipal government has spent 43.7 billion dollars on urban development, including an expanded airport and new subway lines. Whether Beijing's new infrastructure will provide future income from sports, tourism, and conferences remains to be seen.
Seven years ago, the Beijing Olympic Economy Research Association thought the Olympics would add a two-percent boost to the city's annual GDP growth rate. Today, the estimates are a less-sanguine 0.8 percent and a post-Olympics slump is possible.
Green games
Four years before the Olympics, Beijing was ranked as the world's 13th most-polluted city, but the city government promised a "green" Olympics, earmarking 12.2 billion dollars to improve the environment.
Four new rail lines have increased subway capacity from 1.3 to 3.9 million since 2000. They have proved popular, running at capacity during peak hours. The new EURO IV vehicle emissions standard has taken thousands of dirty vehicles off Beijing's streets, and is expected to deliver a 50-percent reduction in emissions.
To improve water quality, Beijing closed down heavily polluting enterprises in the catchments area of its main reservoirs. The city is also recycling more water, and several Olympic venues incorporate rainwater collection systems. However, Beijing has diverted vast amounts of water from surrounding areas to clean up filthy city lakes and rivers, leaving some farmers and rural communities short of water.
 | A worker stands outside a factory that shut down before the Olympics to improve Beijing’s air quality (Photo: Reuters) |
One fifth of the electricity used by Olympic venues came from the city's first wind farm. Geothermal and solar photovoltaic systems powered the Olympic Village, which is slated to become housing after the games. Solar energy also powers 100,000 new streetlights, while over 7 million incandescent bulbs have been replaced throughout the city.
Although it complained it was not allowed to verify official Chinese environmental data, Greenpeace praised Beijing on the eve of the Olympics. It called some of the Chinese capital's measures "world's best environmental practice" that could show other Chinese cities the way.
Not green enough
Despite all these improvements, Beijing's famous smog still choked the city in the early summer. Emergency measures were necessary. City authorities closed local factories prior to the Games. Cars with license plates ending in odd numbers could drive one day; cars with even numbers the next.
Whether it was these anti-pollution efforts or seasonal rains, Beijing enjoyed its cleanest summer air for a decade during the Games. Ivo Allegrini of the Italian National Research Center said that pollution this summer was no higher than in most Western cites. Chinese officials liked the blue skies so much they talked about making the emergency measures permanent.
"If they can't resolve the pollution problems, they should stop or limit their production," said Du Shaozhong, deputy head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, speaking about Beijing's factories. He added that the city would remove more polluting vehicles and reduce construction site dust blamed for polluting water.
Local residents want change, too. Pew Research found that four out of five Chinese say the environment should be made a priority, even at the expense of economic growth. Skeptics maintain, however, the factories will soon go back to business as usual and efforts to clean up Beijing will bump up against economic growth targets and political realities.
Even if it wanted to, the central government has a limited ability to rein in provincial governments pressing for more industrialization and urbanization. In the new China, what Beijing says does not always go.
editor: James Tulloch
publishing date: August 30, 2008
