A new app is telling people the amount of pollution production plants are producing in China. The application, Azure Map, has been developed by some organizations, including the Alibaba Foundation and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs. It tells about pollution produced by over 3,000 large steel, coal-power and petrochemical production plants.

China has been the biggest carbon emitter in the world. Some recently released smartphone applications and lower-cost monitoring devices, which are providing data on pollution sources, are giving a strong reason to citizens to show their anger.

Newly launched Azure Map is not the only app that demonstrates true side of production plants. Earlier, Origins Technology released its palm-sized air quality monitor Laser Egg, which helps users track inside and outside air quality. Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs in Beijing, said if people know the source of pollution, they can control it.

Mary Gallagher, an associate professor from the University of Michigan said, “China’s continuing struggle to control and reduce air pollution exemplifies the government’s fear that lifestyle issues will mutate into demands for political change”.

Not only private organizations, but the Chinese government is also acting against carbon emissions. In 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection joined hands with Wuhan Juzheng Environmental Science & Technology Co. to launch an app, known as ‘Nationwide Air Quality’.

Xu Qinxiang of Wuhan Juzheng said people can push government to do something against air pollution if they know the sources.