China hopes cutting its PM2.5 density by 5 percent every year through to 2015. The goal was announced during a press conference held by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Wednesday. A five year plan aims at preventing and controlling hazardous air pollution.
The focus will be on 117 cities for China’s air quality protection. That’s according to the country’s air pollution control plan for the twelfth five year period. Those cities account for 48 percent of China’s population and 71 percent of the country’s GDP.
Zhao Hualin, Department Director at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said, "At present, the air pollution in China is beyond what the environment can withstand, especially in economically developed areas like Shanghai and Beijing. 82 percent of the cities in China do not meet national air quality standards. So our work is urgent and important."
In recent years, PM 2.5, which represents air particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less, has attracted a lot of public attention. In light of this, the government has devised a plan to tackle the issue head on.
Zhao Hualin said, "We hope to see an annual 5 percent drop in PM2.5 density in all key regions. And for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas, the target will be six percent. "
As the current climate talks in Doha continue, carbon emission cuts remain a key issue for many countries’ environmental protection work. For China, how to ease the country’s heavy dependence on coal is on top of the to-do list of the environmental authorities.
Zhao Hualin said, "One of our key tasks is to promote the applications of clean energy and control regional coal consumption. It will not only help fight air pollution, but also facilitate the country’s emission cut process."
This is the first time China has set a comprehensive air pollution control target. The progress of the work will be reviewed ever year from 2013, and a final assessment will be carried out in 2016. All the results will be available to the public.