Beijing is getting ready for another gray winter after China eased air quality targets, signaling the government is focusing on bolstering slowing growth at the expense of cleaner air.
In September, the government eased its target for a key air quality indicator in northern China, including industrial areas surrounding the capital. It is seeking a 4-percent drop in concentrations of deadly PM 2.5 particles in the October-to-March period from a year earlier, lower than the 5.5-percent decline it sought in an earlier draft of pollution-control goals.
China similarly grappled with balancing the competing demands of growth and pollution control last winter, with some economists suggesting the economic slowdown was behind a decision to move away from hard emissions targets as the government tried to keep factories churning.
