The 12th Better Air Quality Conference was held in Bangkok.
Bangkok, March 12th (Reporter Li Yingmin, Liu Yubo) On March 11th, the 12th Better Air Quality Conference (referred to as "BAQ Conference") opened at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok.
This conference was jointly hosted by the Clean Air Asia Center, the Asian Development Bank, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the United Nations Environment Programme. The conference attracted over 1,100 representatives from 50 countries, aiming to broaden financing channels and support sustainable solutions that can bring long-term economic resilience and health benefits; drive multi-sectoral actions to reduce emissions from transportation, energy, industry, waste, agriculture, and other major sectors; and strengthen partnerships, integrating government, funders, private sector, technical experts, and social organizations to promote fundamental improvement in air quality.
Currently, air pollution remains one of the most significant environmental health risks worldwide. In the updated 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the annual average concentration of PM2.5 was lowered to 5 micrograms per cubic meter, indicating that even low-level exposure can cause harm to health.
As the largest clean air flagship event in Asia, the BAQ Conference has become the most comprehensive and influential air quality event in the Asian region. Since its first launch in 2002, it has continuously built a platform for communication and cooperation, providing scientific solutions for air pollution control.
The Executive Director of Clean Air Asia Center, Ybane Pedersen, expressed his welcome to the participants from all over the world in his speech. He stated that this conference, with the theme of "Join Hands to Promote Blue Skies: Drive Actions and Accelerate Investments", emphasized the urgent need to reduce air pollution through the combination of investment, strengthening cooperation, and practical actions, and to release comprehensive benefits in terms of health, economy, and climate.
Yamada Yoko, Director of the Environment Division of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department of the Asian Development Bank, stated that improving air quality is of utmost importance for promoting sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region. The BAQ conference has created an extremely important platform for integrating policy goals with investment needs, thereby bringing cleaner air to the Asia-Pacific region and helping to build healthier communities.
At the opening ceremony of the conference, Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and director of the Tsinghua University Carbon Neutrality Research Institute, He Kebin, as a Chinese representative, introduced China's journey towards cleaner air and future paths with the title "From Milestones to New Forces". He stated that under the leadership of three national clean air action plans, China has achieved a significant reduction in major air pollutant emissions and a remarkable improvement in air quality over the past decade. In this process, "human efforts" were the main driving force, and the most effective measures included the upgrading and renovation of coal-fired boilers, the promotion of clean fuels for civilian use, and emission control in industrial sectors such as steel, cement, and coke, as well as in the mobile source sector. In March, China revised the "Environmental Air Quality Standards" and tightened the concentration limits for pollutants such as PM2.5, which has brought new challenges to urban compliance. In the future, it is necessary to continuously strengthen coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction and scientifically plan the compliance paths.
This conference will continue until March 13th. During the conference, the participating representatives engaged in exchanges through high-level plenary sessions, special forums, keynote speeches, and roundtable discussions on issues such as air pollution control technologies, financing mechanisms, and cross-sectoral cooperation, with the aim of promoting regional air quality improvement and achieving synergistic benefits for climate and health. Previously, on March 9th and 10th, the conference also held pre-conference activities on topics such as traffic emission reduction and environmental monitoring. (End)