China reveals multi-pronged air pollution battle plan

 China has vowed to take a multi-pronged approach to tackle the country's air pollution, which is increasingly a public concern, according to a government action plan unveiled on Thursday.

China will cut coal use, shut down polluters and promote cleaner production in a bid to clean up the air under the plan, which analysts say shows the government's resolve to fight pollution.

The government aims to cut the density of inhalable particulate matter by at least 10 percent in major cities nationwide by 2017.

PM 2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, should fall by about 25 percent from 2012 levels in Beijing and surrounding provincial areas by 2017, according to the plan.

The Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions would see reductions of 20 and 15 percent, respectively, from 2012 levels over the same period, according to the plan.

Carrying out the plan would require an injection of funds of about 1.75 trillion yuan (around 286.06 billion U.S. dollars), according to estimates from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

LESS COAL USE

China will increase clean energy supply and use and further cut coal consumption, which supplies most of the country's electricity and remains a major source of air pollutant emission.

China aims to cut total coal consumption to below 65 percent of its total primary energy use by 2017 as part of the country's efforts to accelerate adjustment of its energy structure, according to the plan, which is posted on www.gov.cn.

New projects to be constructed in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions will be banned from setting up their own coal-fired power plants, it says.

China will boost supply of natural gas, coal-based substitute natural gas (SNG) and coalbed methane, according to the plan.

By 2015, the country's newly-increased natural gas pipeline transport capacity will total more than 150 billion cubic meters, covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and both the Yangtze and Pearl River delta regions.

Under the plan, the total capacity of China's operating nuclear power reactors will reach 50 million kilowatts by 2017, and the share of non-fossil fuel energy will be raised to 13 percent of overall primary energy use.

China is eyeing a roughly 20-percent cut in energy consumption per unit of industrial value added by 2017, compared to 2012 levels, according to the plan.