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Environment watchdog given tough targets on air pollution
Print Edition
SHANGHAI has set a goal of decreasing the density of PM2.5 particles — a major contributor to air pollution — to 42 micrograms per cubic meter by 2020, from 53 last year, according to a development blueprint.
The guideline to the city’s plans for the next five years will be examined and then approved by the Shanghai People’s Congress, which opened yesterday.
Improving air quality will be a priority for the city’s environment watchdog. Measures to achieve the goal will include cutting the use of coal in industry.
“Air quality saw a slight backslide last year,” said Zhang Quan, director of Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau.
“But Shanghai has made progress in improving air quality and other environmental conditions. We will continue to work hard, and our work needs support from all aspects of society,” he said.
The government earlier set a target to reduce the mean annual PM2.5 density to 49.6 micrograms per cubic meter by 2017, representing a 20 percent drop from 2013 levels.
The new goal means more pressure for the watchdog, which earlier said it planned to close more than 3,000 heavy-polluting enterprises over the next five years, and control the discharge of volatile organic compounds in a further 2,000.
Zhang said the bureau will seek to improve its air pollution forecasting capabilities and improve the city’s four-color warning system.
It will also lower the thresholds for the city’s four-tier air-pollution alarm, he said.
Currently, the lowest blue alarm is issued when the city’s AQI is forecast to be between 201 and 300 over the following 24 hours. If such a reading is expected to last for 48 hours, the second tier yellow alarm is triggered.
An orange alarm is issued when the AQI is predicted to be between 301 and 450 over the next 24 hours, and is raised to red when the index is forecast to be over 450 for the next 24 hours.
After the adjustment, the alarms will be triggered “more easily,” so that corresponding anti-pollution measures can be taken in time.
Zhang said the adjustment is likely to be completed within the first half of the year.
“I’m happy to see that in the Shanghai government’s annual report for last year, environmental protection was linked to many aspects of life like transport, resource consumption, and even consumer’s behavior,” he said.
“Environmental protection is a cross-industry and regional concern,” he said.
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