$18bn later, Beijing still lies shrouded in smog
BEIJING'S unveiling of drastic measures, including a two-month freeze on all construction, is an admission that despite spending about $A18.3 billion in the past decade to reduce smog, the Chinese capital's air quality remains a formidable challenge. The tacit admission comes as a University of California report to be published next month suggests that China's carbon dioxide emissions have been underestimated and China probably overtook the US as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006-07.