Global Times

China to cut coal use, curb steel in new pollution plan

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China will cut coal consumptio­n, boost electric vehicle sales and shut down more outdated steel and coke capacity in the coming three years, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said in the 2018 to 2020 pollution action plan published on Tuesday.

China is in the fifth year of a “war on pollution” aimed at reversing the damage done to the country’s environmen­t since the economy was opened up in 1978.

The new 2018 to 2020 action plan, released on the country’s official government website, will expand the fight to 82 cities across China, and confirmed that the major coal-producing provinces of North China’s Shanxi and Northwest China’s Shaanxi have been added to the list of “key” pollution control regions.

The new plan will also cover the heavily industrial­ized province of Central China’s Henan, as well as the Yangtze River Delta, which includes East China’s Anhui Province, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province and the region around Shanghai.

The document said the regions of Beijing, Tianjin, North China’s Hebei Province, East China’s Shandong Province and Henan will be required to cut coal consumptio­n by 10 percent over the 2016 to 2020 period, while the Yangtze River Delta region will have to cut coal use by 5 percent over the period.

It also said no new capacity for steel, coke and primary aluminum production will be allowed in the regions through 2020, according to the State Council. It will cap steel capacity in Hebei, the country’s largest steelmakin­g province, at 200 million tons by 2020, down from 286 million tons in 2013.

To meet its important smog targets in northern China last year, the government curbed traffic and coal use, and also imposed restrictio­ns on industries like steel, aluminum and cement throughout 28 northern cities from October 2017 to March this year.

The cabinet said special antismog measures would still be introduced over autumn and winter, but each of the 82 cities would now draw up its own tailored plan. It also said it would raise gas storage capacity during winter.

The cabinet also set an annual production and sales target for new energy vehicles at around 2 million vehicles a year by 2020 in order to reduce road emissions.

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