Before China’s leaders declared their “war on pollution” in March, they had already recruited help from abroad. The northern city of Anshan, capital of China’s iron and steel industry, had been chosen as an early battleground in the campaign against poisonous air. But the Chinese lacked the knowledge to clean up a city of 3.5m people, choked by sulphur dioxide.
For answers, they headed to a nation that has slashed energy consumption and hazardous emissions while still growing economically: Denmark.
For a country of 5.6m people, the tide of interest from the communist hierarchy of a superpower with more than 200 times its population has been overwhelming. Copenhagen’s 40 per cent reduction in carbon emissions since 1990 has turned it into a green showcase for Chinese delegations. Somewhat dazed, officials from the Danish capital say they now receive inquisitive groups from Chinese municipalities virtually every week.