Beijing goes greener with more parks, trees

People enjoy the autumn scenery at the Olympic forest park in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 31, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has been expanding its green spaces with new parks built and more trees planted in 2024, government figures show.

The Chinese capital saw 35 new parks in 2024, bringing its total number to 1,100, according to the municipal government work report delivered Tuesday at the ongoing plenary session of the municipal people's congress.

During the year, the city added 10,000 mu (about 667 hectares) of afforestation and greening and built 500 km of greenways. The 80-km greenway around the Second Ring Road has been fully connected, with 20 neighbor blocks and 300 overpasses decorated with greenery.

Previous official figures showed that the city's forest coverage rate has risen from 38.6 percent in 2012 to 44.9 percent in 2024, and urban afforestation coverage has reached 49.8 percent.

The Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau said the city aims to raise the forest coverage rate to 45 percent by 2025.

Meanwhile, Beijing in 2024 continued to intensify efforts in air pollution control. The number of new energy vehicles in the city exceeded 1 million, and the proportion of green electricity reached 26 percent, according to the municipal government work report.

Despite unfavorable meteorological conditions such as heavy fog and calm winds in autumn and winter, the average density of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during the year was 30.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air, down by 6.2 percent. The number of good air quality days reached 290, 19 days more than the previous year.

The city will further advance the construction of a garden city in 2025, with more greenways to be built. Plans are in place to build 1,000 supercharger stations for electric vehicles and to continue the special campaign against dust pollution. The days with heavy pollution will be virtually eliminated, said the report.