China is working on policies to do something about the deteriorating air quality around the nation's capital through a nationally coordinated action plan that sets goals for the next five years on decreasing the annual concentration of PM 2.5 (particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter), the major pollutants in the smog that has lingered for months.

There will also be plans for cutting coal consumption, shutting down outmoded production facilities, and raising environmental protection standards. This targets an area around the capital, with the most serious environmental problems in the country, and reaches the mega city of Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi provinces, and the Inner Mongolia region, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday, June 25.

A Ministry of Environmental Protection official said they may represent the State Council in signing pledges with local governments to make certain that air pollution goals are reached. In addition to this action plan for northern China, the central government is also looking at rules for the whole country over the next five years, with 10 guidelines on preventing air pollution.

Air quality in the Beiing-Tianjin-Hebei area was the worst in May, out of 74 major cities in China, according to the ministry's monthly air quality report, with the area meeting national air quality standards only 27.4 percent of the days on average, or 32.7 percent lower than the national average. And the days with air pollution reaching the serious level accounted for 8.7 percent, or 6.5 percent above the national average.

Improving air quality has become a government priority, with a project for the next two years announced in December by the environmental protection and financing ministries and the National Development and Reform Commission, saying that the annual concentration of PM 2.5 should be reduced greatly by 2015.

Beijing plans to cut it by 16 percent, while Tianjin and cities in Hebei are calling for 6 percent, and cities in Shandong, by 7 percent and Shanxi province, 4 percent.