Policy briefing on Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality

Reuters:

My question concerns two aspects. With regard to the action plan for the continuous improvement of air quality, you have mentioned three key regions. What I would like to ask is whether the State Council will implement coal consumption reduction targets for other regions in the future? In addition, will the State Council set a national target for reducing coal consumption? Thank you.

Liu Bingjiang:

According to Article 90 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution, new construction, alteration or expansion of coal-fired projects in national key regions for prevention and control of atmospheric pollution shall implement coal substitution in an equivalent or reduced quantity. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region and the Fenwei Plain region, newly-built coal-fired projects should implement coal substitution in an equivalent or reduced quantity. By doing so, increments can be stabilized. On this basis, many measures are proposed to reduce the number of coal-consuming users or enterprises. The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas should be reduced by 20% and that in the Fenwei Plain region should drop by 15%. It is an effective measure to impose a cap on total coal consumption in these regions. This is based on the law on atmospheric prevention and control, requiring that by 2025 the coal consumption in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas should be reduced by 10% compared to 2020, the coal consumption in the Yangtze River Delta region should be reduced by 5% and the coal consumption in the Fenwei Plain region should achieve negative growth. As for the regions outside national key regions for air pollution prevention and control, there is no specific law requiring the control of total coal consumption. Thank you.