For years, China has focused on internal solutions to dealing with smog — shuttering coal power plants, for example. But there may be more at play.

Researchers at Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences said sea ice and snowfall changes have shifted China’s winter winds. That shift helps create stagnant conditions, which trap pollution over the country’s major population and industrial centers.

CGTN’s Sean Callebs spoke with lead researcher Yuhang Wang.

Jennifer Turner discusses global climate change and the political response

As it becomes more clear that external factors are partially to blame for China’s pollution, some world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump are moving away from climate science. CGTN’s Mike Walter talked about that with Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center.