China tackles its air pollution problem with new regulations

Newscast Media BEIJING—China recently unveiled a massive plan to tackle air pollution, a source of growing social discontent. The move highlights how the issue has become a priority for Beijing. But experts say more radical changes are needed.

Beijing calls it its "most comprehensive and toughest plan" yet to reduce air pollution.

According to the state-run "China Daily" newspaper, the Chinese government is set to invest 1.7 trillion yuan ($277 billion) to control and in some regions reduce air pollution by the year 2017, setting stricter limits on the levels of PM 2.5 particles. The tiny floating particles, measuring 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter, are hazardous because they can penetrate deeply into the lungs and cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

The so-called Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan specifically targets northern China, particularly in the cities Beijing, Tianjin and in Hebei province. The government aims to reduce air emissions by 25 percent by 2017 compared with 2012 levels in those areas, according to the report.

Zhao Hualin, head of the pollution prevention and control department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, told the newspaper that the state council had approved the plan last month. He added that the program was one of three key action plans to be released over the next five years, designed to address airborne pollution prevention, water pollution control and improvements to the rural environment. "The thick smog and haze that covered large areas of the country in January has focused public attention on this issue," Zhao is quoted as saying.

China has depended heavily on coal as a source of energy which has helped the country experience an unprecedented economic growth over the past decades. But that growth has come at a high price. According to the 2010 Global Burden of Disease (GDB) published in the British medical journal "The Lancet," air pollution contributed to about 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010 alone. Add Comments>>

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