How to save two million lives a year

Environmentalpm problems in big, fast-growing developing countries can seem intractable. China’s recent advances against air pollution therefore offer, as well as relief to millions, an inspiring lesson.Before hosting the Olympics in 2008, Beijing was so blanketed in poisonous smog it had to close factories and empty its roads to protect athletes’ health. Yet by applying more modest controls over a much greater area, spanning Beijing, Tianjin and 26 adjacent prefectures, it has since made much more sustainable progress. The average concentration of hazardous 2.5 particles in Beijing in 2021 was half what it was in 2015. Contestants at the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year performed under blue skies and with a view of distant peaks.