China will accelerate the development of its modern ecological environment monitoring system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), focusing on four key areas, which are network, technology, management and support, said an official from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Monday.
At a press conference in Beijing, Zhang Dawei, director of the ministry's Department of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring, China aims to expand the ecological and environmental monitoring network from the current 33,000 sites to more than 50,000, covering carbon reduction, pollution control, and ecological restoration across the country.
"We will focus our efforts on four key areas -- network, technology, management and support, and ensure that our monitoring data is true, accurate, comprehensive, fast and new with higher standards. We aim to serve as a 'mirror' reflecting the beauty of China, a 'scout' detecting environmental problems, and a 'powerful tool' supporting the targeted, scientific, and law-based pollution control," said Zhang.
"A series of integrated multi-function monitoring stations will be deployed for joint atmospheric, water, and ecological observation in sensitive zones like Sanjiangyuan and key regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta. We will also develop and launch six ecological environment satellites and construct 30 supporting ground verification stations to raise the precision of main data products of homegrown satellites to over 80 percent," he said.
Zhang said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will also push for digital and intelligent transformation of the monitoring system by establishing around ten advanced unmanned laboratories nationwide, which operate around the clock with fully automated and intelligent processes, and upgrading over 3,000 water and air automatic monitoring stations.
By 2030, manual intervention in essential monitoring areas will be cut by 70 percent and operational efficiency will be increased by more than fivefold, he said.
China to focus on four areas to advance modern ecological monitoring in 2026-2030: official
European airlines are facing looming jet fuel shortages as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has disrupted energy supply and driven up fuel costs.
According to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global jet fuel costs have soared since the start of the conflict, rising from 85 to 90 U.S. dollars per barrel to 150 to 200 U.S. dollars per barrel.
In addition to soaring fuel costs, many European airlines are also facing a situation where jet fuel is simply unavailable even at high prices, with fuel inventories in some regions only sufficient to last a few weeks. This "jet fuel crisis" is posing a serious challenge to the air transport industry.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said that Europe's jet fuel reserves are running dangerously low, and if the situation in the Middle East continues to disrupt supplies, some flights may soon be forced to cancel.
Recently, several European airlines, including Germany's Lufthansa, Dutch flag carrier KLM, and Virgin Atlantic, have adopted measures such as suspending flight routes, canceling some flights, and increasing fuel surcharges.
Industry insiders widely believe that with demand remaining unchanged, transport capacity insufficiency and expensive ticket prices will impose further restrictions on travel for Europeans.
Europe has long been heavily reliant on energy supplies from the Middle East. According to data from the International Energy Agency, the Middle East previously accounted for 75 percent of Europe's net jet fuel imports. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has directly brought this core supply channel to a near standstill, causing Europe's jet fuel imports to plummet to their lowest level since March 2022.
In addition, due to the conflict, long-haul flights departing from Europe have been forced to reroute around certain airspaces, resulting in longer flight time and greater distances, which in turn has increased jet fuel consumption and kept Europe's demand for jet fuel persistently high.
Aviation analysts said that even if shipping through the Strait of Hormuz resumes, it will still take several months for jet fuel production and transportation system to gradually return to normal levels.
European airlines face looming fuel shortages as Mideast conflict disrupts energy supply
