Beijing unveils clean air action plan

BEIJING -- Beijing municipal authorities unveiled on Thursday a five-year plan to improve air quality through measures such as cutting coal consumption, promoting clean energy use and reducing production capacities with heavy pollution.

The capital's 2013-2017 plan aims to cut annual coal consumption by 13 million tonnes and keep it within 10 million tonnes by 2017, compared with 23 million tonnes in 2012.

The city will also slash its cement production capacity to 4 million tonnes in 2017, from 10 million tonnes in the early period of the 12th five year development plan from 2011 to 2015.

Beijing's action plan for clean air echoed a national air pollution prevention and treatment plan, which was also released on Thursday on the central government's website.

Early this year, north and east China cities experienced repeated prolonged smoggy weather, prompting authorities to make more efforts to tackle pollution.

Iron and steel, cement, chemical and petrochemical industries will reduce waste emissions by more than 30 percent in 2017 compared with the levels of 2012, said Beijing's action plan.

The clean air plan includes eight pollution reduction projects, and citizens and the media will participate in the realization of the ambitious goals, said Yu Jianhua, an official of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

Meanwhile, Beijing will promote the use of clean energy in public vehicles, such as buses, taxis and postal trucks.

By the end of 2017, Beijing will have 200,000 vehicles on the roads that are powered by new and clean energy, with about 65 percent of public buses using clean energy.

The city will shut down 1,200 small polluting mills in the building materials, chemical, founding and furniture sectors by 2016.