Chinese Environmental Group Develops Mobile App to Monitor Air Pollution

In an attempt to step up whistleblowing efforts against polluting companies, the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs developed a new mobile app that will monitor air quality data for 190 cities in China.

The mobile app provides hourly updates on gas emission numbers from over 370 large industrial companies throughout China. These companies are responsible for reporting their emissions to local authorities, which is where the app retrieves the information. The Chinese Environment Ministry requires about 15,000 factories to submit such data in real time.

The app - launched on Monday - comes about a month after the Chinese Parliament amended their environmental protection law to give non-governmental activist groups more power in penalizing companies who exceed the newly established limit on pollutants. The law was amended for the first time in 25 years and is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2015.

"When subject to public scrutiny, unreasonable and illogical data can be identified by environmental groups or experts with certain professional knowledge and skills," said Wang Yan, director of NRDC's China Environmental Law Project, in this Washington Post article.

This is a big step for environmentalists in China and around the world. Just three years ago, Chinese authorities kept particulate matter data secret, which likely contributed to the unprecedented rise in air pollution. Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of small particles and liquid droplets that can be measured to determine air quality. The World Health Organization released a report in March that found air pollution was the cause of 7 million premature deaths worldwide.

Chinese environmentalists are striving to reduce this enormous number, especially since the greatest amount of pollution is emitted by China and the United States. Earlier this year, Beijing declared a couple of "orange alerts" as smog smothered the city and posed health risks to many. Young children and the elderly were urged to stay indoors and commuters were asked to use public transportation.

The mobile app is yet another pollution watchdog likely to reduce the country's excessive emissions. After the Chinese Parliament amended the environmental law, they placed no limits on fines for the perpetrators of the new emission limitations. The 15,000 factories know it's in their best interest to adhere to the restrictions.