It's Official: Beijing Air Was Cleaner in the First Half of 2015

The blue skies of June may be here to stay: Beijing's air was cleaner in the first half of 2015, as efforts to reduce air pollution begin to take effect.

PM 2.5 readings were down by 15.2 percent January-June, Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

However, the average reading of 77.7 micrograms per cubic meter are still more than double the target of 35 micrograms per cubic meter, the Bureau said.

"Sulfur dioxide dropped by 41 percent, nitrogen dioxide by 15 percent and PM 10 by 13 percent," the report said, citing further progress in air pollution reduction.

Heavy pollution days were also down in 2014. Beijing closed a coal-burning power plant in the city center in late March, part of a move to shutter all four such power plants in Beijing by 2016.

Photo: Steven Schwankert/the Beijinger