China is to set up a special fund and pool the country’s best scientists to find out the “unique” cause of smog that frequently blankets north China in winter, Premier Li Keqiang said. “The cause of smog should be discovered as soon as possible so our response will be more effective”. The government is determined to spend as much as needed for the research, he said, to enable the country to fight and win the battle against smog. “The weather is not something humans can control,” Li said, “but we can choose our behavior and transform the model of development.” China’s notorious smog problem may have been worsened by climate change in the polar regions, according to a study published in the U.S. journal Science Advances. The findings may provide some clues why China’s smog problem has failed to ease despite cuts in pollution-causing emissions. Melting ice around the North Pole and increasing snowfall in Siberia reduced the amount of cold air, impeded its southerly route and contributing to China’s severe air pollution, according to the researchers.