China to be more tough fighting air pollution
Print Edition
CHINA will impose tougher controls on air pollution in Beijing and nearby regions this year to combat heavy smog, closing illegal plants and slashing steel production, a senior environment official said yesterday.
To reduce winter pollution, Beijing, Tianjin and 26 cities in the surrounding provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan must attain their annual goals of cutting steel overcapacity ahead of schedule, Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of environmental protection, said at a press briefing.
Those cities should shut all illegal polluting factories by the end of October and ensure a decrease in their total amount of coal consumption this year, Zhao said.
During the winter heating season, major steel producing cities in Hebei, which is adjacent to Beijing, must cap their output at half of their capacity, he noted.
Meanwhile, cement and casting industries in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will continue to halt production in winter. The production controls play a significant role in offsetting pollution in winter, said Zhao. He also demanded clean fuel be used for winter heating and urged stronger measures to curb car emissions.
In 2016, the density of PM2.5, fine particulate matter that causes smog and is hazardous to health, in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region dropped more than 30 percent from 2013, Zhao said.
But he noted the region continued to see frequent heavy pollution in winter and there remained difficulties in tackling the problem.
Chinese cities suffered from more days of air pollution in January, with northern areas being the worst affected, according to official data.
The share of days with good air quality in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was only 36.2 percent in January, a year-on-year drop of 19.6 percentage points, data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection showed.
Last month, the 338 cities monitored by the ministry enjoyed good air quality on 60 percent of days, down 6.7 percentage points from the same period last year.
The city of Haikou in Hainan Province continued to have the cleanest air out of China’s 74 major cities, while Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province was the worst polluted.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
