The State Council, China's cabinet, on Monday presented the nation's first-ever annual report on the environment to the top legislature.
The report will influence regulations and improve supervision of environmental work.
At its bi-monthly session, from Monday through Thursday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) began to review data on the environment and the status of environmental protection goals implemented last year, as required by the new Environmental Protection Law.
The law, which took effect in early 2015, ordered governments of county-level and above to report annually on their environmental conditions.
The review will help law enforcement, Tong Weidong, vice head of the Office for Administrative Law under the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, told Xinhua.
It will also improve government and public awareness of environmental issues, Tong said, and aid supervision of government work.
For years, the top legislature has "placed equal emphasis" on environment legislation and supervision over law enforcement, to address serious pollution, achieve sustainable social and economic development, and better protect people's health, Tong said.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS IN 2015
China beat its annual target to cut the emissions of principal pollutants in 2015, and met all environmental targets set for 2011-2015 as scheduled, the report said.
Last year, emissions of chemical oxygen demand, sulfur dioxide, ammonia nitrogen and oxynitride dropped by 3.1 percent, 5.8 percent, 3.6 percent, and 10.9 percent respectively from the previous year, and by 12.9 percent, 18 percent, 13 percent and 18.6 percent from 2010 levels.
Forest coverage increased from 20.36 percent in 2010 to 21.66 percent in 2015, with the forest stock volume reaching 15.1 billion cubic meters.
The report attributed the progress to improved legislative work, strict law enforcement and supervision, increased funding, industrial restructuring as well as measures to reduce air, water and soil pollution.
Central government spending on energy conservation and environmental protection rose 13.9 percent year on year to 278.2 billion yuan (42.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, the report showed.
