Beijing adopted various measures in 2016 to keep improving its air quality and overfulfilled last year's emission reduction task.
In 2016, the total amount of burned coal in Beijing was reduced to under 10 million tons, meeting the target one year ahead of the plan. Coal-fired boilers with the heating capacity of 8,488 t/h were transformed to use clean energy, and 75,000 households in urban areas of Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, Shijingshan Districts and 663 villages switched to the use of clean energy.
In terms of vehicle emission, Beijing removed approximately 440,000 old motor vehicles from the road, replaced new three-way catalytic converters for about 43,000 taxis, and installed diesel particulate filter (DPF) for over 7,600 heavy-duty diesel vehicles.
In addition, Beijing also relocated or closed 335 manufacturing and pollution enterprises in 2016, and regulated 4,477 enterprises that discharge pollutants illegally. The city also implemented technical transformation projects targeting at the treatment of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
2016 witnessed the largest improvement of PM2.5 concentration in Beijing since the official monitor and release of PM2.5 data in 2013. According to the 2016 Beijing Environment Bulletin, the annual average concentration of PM 2.5 decreased by 9.9 percent in 2016.
Additionally, Beijing's air quality has improved thanks to the regional coordination of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the surrounding areas. Under the cooperation projects of controlling pollution, Beijing invested 502 million yuan in supporting Baoding and Langfang of Hebei Province to transform coal-fired boilers.
Besides, in 2016, Beijing's environmental law enforcement authority placed 13,127 cases of environmental violating conducts on file, and investigated and punished 344 cases of major environmental violations.
