China under pressure in emissions targets

BEIJING - China is facing pressure in meeting the emissions cut targets set in its pollution control plan by 2015, an environment official said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Zhai Qing, deputy minister of environmental protection, said China currently records 24 million tonnes of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measure of organic pollutants in water, per year, while the total annual volume of ammonia nitrogen emissions stands at 2.45 million tonnes.

Experts have estimated that China's water environment will undergo fundamental improvement only after the above figures are cut by 30 to 50 percent, Zhai said.

In the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2010-2015) for environment protection, China vowed to cut COD and sulfur dioxide emissions by 8 percent and ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxide emissions by 10 percent compared with 2010 levels.

"Emissions of COD, sulfur dioxide and ammonia nitrogen have dropped by over 7 percent in the past three years, basically as scheduled, but nitrogen oxide emissions only dropped by about 2 percent, which has created great pressure for emissions-cutting tasks in 2014 and 2015," said Zhai.

The performance for the first half of 2011 was even more disappointing, as nitrogen oxide emissions rose by 6.17 percent year on year.

But Zhai said he still believes the five-year reduction target will be met under the support of local authorities.

Last year, emissions of major indicators including COD, sulfur dioxide and ammonia nitrogen kept declining, and nitrogen oxide emissions dropped by 4 percent year on year, he noted.

The deputy minister said that China has set a goal of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions by at least 5 percent in 2014, with emissions cut targets of 2 percent for other indicators this year.

A total of 1,473 environment protection projects will be finished across the country this year, aimed at increasing sewage treatment capacity by 10 million tonnes and denitration capacity by 130 million kilowatts, Zhai said.

China will also strive to pull three million excessively polluting vehicles from the roads, he added, while authorities are currently working on an action plan to combat water pollution and protect soil.