Dust Storms and Pollution Force Beijing to Go Greener

The Chinese prime minister has ordered the country's vast bureaucracy to improve environmental protection, in a shift away from the government's 25-year policy of economic growth at all costs.

The move comes as Beijing experiences some of the foulest pollution in years. Dust storms, exhaust emissions and grit from building sites have choked the skies, turning the streets yellow and prompting health warnings that children should be kept indoors with the windows closed.

In an unusually stinging critique, the premier, Wen Jiabao, said measures to conserve nature and improve air and water quality over the past five years had failed, resulting in severe ecological degradation.

"Environmental protection has become the weakest aspect in social and economic development," the China Daily quoted him as saying. "The implementation of green laws is not strict at all."

Addressing a top-level environmental policy group, Mr Wen blamed poor planning, low awareness and an "illogical" industrial policy. Officials were too focused on expanding the economy and needed to focus on the consequences of growth.

Every six months local government will be obliged to release information on energy consumption, which should be cut by 20% by 2011, and emissions of polluting chemicals, to be trimmed by 10%. But the supervisory system is so lax that targets may not be reached. Last week the government said it had failed to achieve eight of its 20 environmental goals.

The haze in China's capital has led to a surge of respiratory complaints. The Beijing Evening News said the number of outpatients at two of the city's biggest hospitals was more than 30% above average.