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Green City Plan in Motion

Winning the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games inspired Beijing to execute a range of development plans with an eye towards Games preparation.

Acting on its promise to transform itself into an “ecologically and environmentally friendly city,” Beijing has moved its biggest taxpayer but worst polluter, the State-owned steel giant Shougang Group, to Tangshan, Hebei Province, from Shijingshan District in Beijing, although the steel giant’s corporate offices and many of its high-tech operations will remain in Shijingshan.

Work has also been suspended at the Beijing Chemical Works, and all of Beijing’s residents are being encouraged to use clean energy sources such as natural gas and solar power. Solar power, for instance, is being used in rural villages to power street lighting.

The use of clean energy in public transit vehicles is also strongly encouraged; more than 80 percent of the buses in Beijing, and all the buses used in the Olympic Park and major Olympic and Paralympic venues will be powered by clean energy by 2008.

Clean-energy will be used in more than 70 percent of the city’s taxis, and all of the city’s operating taxies will meet stringent environmental standards by Games time.