Overall goals of the three-year action plan to win the blue sky defense battle announced
China's Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin said on the 20th at a regular State Council policy briefing held by the State Council Information Office that the "Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense Battle" will be issued and implemented in the near future. The overall goal is that after three years of effort, PM2.5 concentrations will be further significantly reduced, the number of heavily polluted days will be significantly reduced, and ambient air quality will be significantly improved.
Zhao Yingmin said that in 2013, the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan" was issued and implemented. Over the past five years, ambient air quality has improved overall, but the atmospheric environment situation remains severe. The "Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense Battle" (referred to as the "Three-Year Action Plan"), compiled by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment together with relevant departments, has further enhanced the breadth, depth and intensity of the tasks and measures for air pollution prevention and control.
Zhao Yingmin said that the overall approach of the action plan is the "four fours", namely highlighting four key areas, optimizing four major structures, strengthening four supports, and achieving four significant improvements. Highlighting the "four key areas" means that the key pollution factor for prevention and control is PM2.5, the key regions are the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta and the Fenwei Plain, the key periods are autumn and winter and early spring, and the key industries and fields are steel, thermal power, building materials and other industries, as well as fields such as "scattered, chaotic and polluting" enterprises, scattered coal, diesel trucks, and dust control.
According to reports, the overall goal of the "Three-Year Action Plan" is that after three years of effort, the total emissions of major air pollutants will be substantially reduced, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced in a coordinated manner, PM2.5 concentrations will be further significantly reduced, the number of heavily polluted days will be significantly reduced, ambient air quality will be significantly improved, and the people's sense of happiness regarding blue skies will be significantly enhanced.
The specific targets are: by 2020, total sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions will each decrease by more than 15% compared with 2015; the concentration of PM2.5 in cities at prefecture level and above that have not met the standard will decrease by more than 18% compared with 2015, the proportion of days with good or excellent air quality in cities at prefecture level and above will reach 80%, and the proportion of days with heavy pollution or above will decrease by more than 25% compared with 2015; provinces that have completed the "13th Five-Year Plan" targets ahead of schedule must maintain and consolidate the improvement results; provinces that have not yet completed them must ensure the full realization of the binding targets of the "13th Five-Year Plan"; Beijing's ambient air quality improvement target should be further raised on the basis of the "13th Five-Year Plan" target.