Making China's Skies Blue Again

In his 2017 Report on the Work of the Government, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to “make our skies blue again.” He specified that “this year, we will see that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions are both cut by 3 percent and that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) density in key areas falls markedly.”

To this end, he demanded efforts to address pollution caused by coal burning, a full range of measures to improve the sources of pollution, strict control over exhaust fumes from motor vehicles, effective steps to combat heavy air pollution, strict enforcement of environmental laws and regulations, and investigations to identify violators and hold them accountable.

The report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC proposed involving everyone in improving the environment and addressing environmental issues at the root, and continuing the campaign to prevent and control air pollution and make the skies blue again.

In July 2018, the State Council promulgated a three-year action plan, outlining goals, tasks and measures. The goal is to drop the discharge of main air pollutants by a big margin, cut the emission of greenhouse gases, lower the PM2.5 density, reduce the number of days with heavy pollution, and notably improve air quality by 2020. Compared with 2015, there will be a 15-percent drop in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions and an 18-percent drop in annual PM2.5 density in the cities at and above prefecture level that failed to meet the relevant standards in 2015. The residents of these cities will breathe fresh air on 80 percent of the days of the year, and the number of days with heavy pollution and worse conditions will drop by 25 percent.

藍(lán)天保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)

李克強(qiáng)總理在2017年政府工作報(bào)告中，明確提出了“堅(jiān)決打好藍(lán)天保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)”的要求，提出了“2017年二氧化硫、氮氧化物排放量要分別下降3%，重點(diǎn)地區(qū)細(xì)顆粒物(PM2.5)濃度明顯下降”的具體目標(biāo)。為此，報(bào)告還提出了五方面舉措：一要加快解決燃煤污染問題；二要全面推進(jìn)污染源治理；三要強(qiáng)化機(jī)動(dòng)車尾氣治理；四要有效應(yīng)對重污染天氣；五要嚴(yán)格環(huán)境執(zhí)法和督查問責(zé)。中共十九大報(bào)告進(jìn)一步強(qiáng)調(diào)，堅(jiān)持全民共治、源頭防治，持續(xù)實(shí)施大氣污染防治行動(dòng)，打贏藍(lán)天保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)。2018年7月，國務(wù)院印發(fā)《打贏藍(lán)天保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)三年行動(dòng)計(jì)劃》，明確了大氣污染防治工作的總體思路、基本目標(biāo)、主要任務(wù)和保障措施，提出了打贏藍(lán)天保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)的時(shí)間表和路線圖。即，經(jīng)過3年努力，大幅減少主要大氣污染物排放總量，協(xié)同減少溫室氣體排放，進(jìn)一步明顯降低細(xì)顆粒物（PM2.5）濃度，明顯減少重污染天數(shù)，明顯改善環(huán)境空氣質(zhì)量，明顯增強(qiáng)人民的藍(lán)天幸福感。到2020年，二氧化硫、氮氧化物排放總量分別比2015年下降15%以上；PM2.5未達(dá)標(biāo)地級及以上城市濃度比2015年下降18%以上，地級及以上城市空氣質(zhì)量優(yōu)良天數(shù)比率達(dá)到80%，重度及以上污染天數(shù)比率比2015年下降25%以上。