Policy Document: The State Council Information Office Held a Regular Briefing on the State Council's Policy of the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality (Photo Record)
Xie Yingjun, Deputy Director of the Information Bureau and Spokesperson of the Information Office of the State Council (Photo by Luan Haijun)
Xie Yingjun, Deputy Director of the Information Bureau and Spokesperson of the Information Office of the State Council:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the regular briefing on the State Council's policies. Recently, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality", in order to help you better understand the relevant situation, today we invited Mr. Liu Bingjiang, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment, to introduce the "Action Plan" and answer questions of interest.
Now, we would like to give the floor to Mr. Liu Bingjiang for a briefing.
Liu Bingjiang, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment (photo by Xu Xiang)
Liu Bingjiang, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment:
Thank you, host, dear friends of the news media, first of all, thank you for your concern and support for the prevention and control of air pollution. It is a great pleasure to be here today to introduce to you the relevant information of the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the prevention and control of air pollution. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the battle to defend the blue sky is the top priority of the battle against pollution, and it is necessary to take Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta, the Fenwei Plain and other key areas as the main battlefield, vigorously promote the coordinated emission reduction of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants, and continue to reduce the concentration of fine particulate matter. It is necessary to take comprehensive measures to speed up the elimination of heavily polluted weather and protect the beautiful blue sky. In order to thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport and other 26 departments, jointly formulated the "Air Quality Improvement Action Plan", which was issued and implemented by the State Council on November 30. This is the third "Ten Atmospheric Measures" issued by the state after the "Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control" and the "Three-year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War", and the main content can be summarized as "four clear".
First, the overall idea has been clarified. The Action Plan is guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, deeply implements Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, implements the deployment of the National Conference on Ecological Environmental Protection, adheres to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and coordinates the promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, Growth, with the improvement of air quality as the core, to reduce heavily polluted weather and solve the outstanding atmospheric environmental problems around the people as the focus, to reduce PM2.5 concentration as the main line, vigorously promote the reduction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), highlight accurate, scientific and law-based pollution control, combine research and planning the path of air pollution prevention and control from near and far, solidly promote the green and low-carbon transformation of industry, energy and transportation, and achieve a win-win situation of environmental, economic and social benefits.
The second is to clarify the improvement goals. The Action Plan benchmarks the requirements of the National 14th Five-Year Plan and the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control, and proposes that by 2025, the concentration of PM2.5 in cities at and above the prefecture level will be reduced by 10%, the proportion of days with severe pollution and above will be controlled within 1%, and the total emissions of nitrogen oxides and VOCs will be reduced by more than 10% respectively. At the same time, the key areas of air pollution prevention and control have been optimized and adjusted, and improvement targets have been proposed, requiring the concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas and the Fenwei Plain to be reduced by 20% and 15% respectively, and the PM2.5 concentration in the Yangtze River Delta region has generally reached the standard, and Beijing has controlled it within 32 micrograms/cubic meter.
Third, the key tasks have been clarified. The Action Plan puts forward nine key tasks, one is to optimize the industrial structure and promote the green upgrading of industrial products. The second is to optimize the energy structure and accelerate the development of clean, low-carbon and efficient energy. The third is to optimize the transportation structure and vigorously develop a green transportation system. Fourth, strengthen the control of non-point source pollution and improve the level of refined management. Fifth, strengthen the emission reduction of multiple pollutants and effectively reduce the emission intensity. Sixth, strengthen the construction of mechanisms and improve the atmospheric environment management system. Seventh, strengthen capacity building and strictly supervise law enforcement. Eighth, improve the system of laws, regulations and standards, and improve environmental and economic policies. Ninth, it is necessary to implement the responsibilities of all parties and carry out national actions.
Fourth, the implementation of responsibilities has been clarified. The Action Plan emphasizes strengthening organizational leadership, upholding and strengthening the party's overall leadership over air pollution prevention and control, and local governments at all levels are responsible for air quality within their respective administrative areas. Strictly supervise and assess, and take the completion of air quality improvement goals as an important part of the assessment of the effectiveness of in-depth pollution prevention and control. Implement national actions, mobilize all sectors of society to participate in the protection of the air environment, and jointly improve air quality.
That is the case with regard to the Plan of Action. Now, I would like to answer your questions on the relevant issues. Thank you!
Xie Yingjun:
You are now welcome to ask questions, and please let your news organization know before you ask.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Beijing Youth Daily reporter:
I have a two-pronged question. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has formulated and implemented the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" and the "Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War".
Liu Bingjiang:
Thank you for your question. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have successively issued the "Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control" and the "Three-year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War", which have indeed significantly improved air quality, and everyone can feel it. The successful experience of the past eight years can be summarized as focusing on the three major structural adjustments of industry, energy and transportation, seizing the four major opportunities, and promoting the five major paths of "coal reduction, post-elimination, vehicle control, pollution control and dust suppression". The key to this is four opportunities.
The first opportunity is to double our country's natural gas consumption. From nearly 170 billion cubic meters in 2013, it will double by 2020. With such a large amount of data, there is a huge opportunity to improve air quality. Therefore, we have revised the natural gas utilization policy with the relevant departments, and the new natural gas is mainly used for urban residents' consumption and "coal-to-gas", which is a very key measure. Over the past eight years, we have concentrated resources and concentrated forces, mainly in the treatment of scattered coal and relatively inefficient coal, such as boilers, industrial kilns, etc., the national coal-fired boilers and kilns have been reduced by more than 400,000 units, and the scattered coal in rural areas has been "converted from coal to gas" and "coal to electricity", 25 million rural residents have been governed, and the people have also bid farewell to the smoky and inefficient way of using energy, reducing coal consumption by about 500 million tons and carbon dioxide by 1 billion tons in the past eight years. This is the first opportunity.
The second opportunity is the opportunity for the state to implement the steel industry and the coal industry to resolve excess capacity. The Party Central Committee proposed supply-side structural reforms, and the State Council proposed to dissolve 150 million tons of steel and 500 million tons of coal in the steel industry and coal industry within three years. At the same time, about 140 million tons of strip steel have been cleared, and 400 million tons of backward cement have also been eliminated. In addition, in the surrounding areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, 62,000 "scattered and polluted" enterprises and clusters have been cleaned up and rectified. Considering the protection of the Yangtze River, more than 1,000 chemical enterprises in cities along the Yangtze River have been relocated and upgraded, and Beijing has relieved thousands of non-capital functional industries, both of which have provided huge emission reductions for air pollutant emission reduction.
The third opportunity is scientific and technological progress in the field of air pollution control. For example, all our domestic coal-fired power enterprises have reached the emission level of natural gas, and have also launched the ultra-low emission transformation of iron and steel enterprises. At the same time, our domestic scientists have also developed world-class air quality prediction and forecasting models, so that we can accurately grasp each pollution process. The process of our response to pollution can be scientific and accurate, and solve the problem of long-distance and cross-regional pollution. In addition, our domestic scientists have independently developed many monitoring equipment, including super stations, navigation vehicles, and air quality 6-parameter monitoring stations, and urban and rural areas across the country to carry out distribution, we can accurately grasp the law of each pollution process generation, development, and dissipation, with these stations, so that we can solve the stubborn problem of "burning waste in spring, open-air barbecue in summer, burning straw in autumn, burning coal in winter, and burning garbage all year round".
The fourth opportunity is to create a central environmental protection inspection system. The creation of this system has made "one point of deployment, nine points of implementation" truly a reality, and the requirements of the local people's government to take overall responsibility for air quality have been implemented, and each of our measures has been closed-loop management from layout to development to final implementation. In the past eight years, the implementation of each measure has been unprecedented. If you want to talk about experience, it is 345, "3" is the adjustment of the three main structures, "4" is to seize the four opportunities, and "5" is the five paths of "coal reduction, elimination, vehicle control, pollution control and dust suppression", each link is different.
China has now become the world's fastest air quality improvement country, our country's coal-source pollution has been basically solved, but the inflection point of air quality from quantitative to qualitative change has not yet arrived, the performance is characterized by heavy pollution is still frequent and frequent, we know that the three major structures, the industrial structure is biased towards the chemical industry, the energy structure is biased towards coal, and the transportation structure is biased towards the highway has not been fundamentally improved.
The treatment of sulfur dioxide is relatively thorough and successful, but the treatment of nitrogen oxides and VOCs is still on the way, especially the current meteorological problems, such as sand and dust in spring, high temperature in summer, and El Niño in winter, which has brought great uncertainty to our air quality improvement. In the face of these new tasks and new problems, on the basis of summarizing the air pollution control work in the past ten years, the "Action Plan" issued this time inherits and continues the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" and the effective experience and practices of the three-year blue sky defense campaign, mainly referring to the five major paths of "coal reduction, relieving, vehicle control, pollution control and dust suppression", which will continue to be reflected in different chapters of the document.
First, we should highlight the focus of work and adhere to the main line of PM2.5 improvement, the current air quality pollution in our country is still PM2.5 as the main contradiction, and the reduction target of PM2.5 should be clarified.
The second is to adhere to the systematic pollution control, and vigorously promote the adjustment of the industry, energy, and transportation structure, especially as you can see, the transportation sector has the most quantitative indicators of low-carbon green transformation, which is a major highlight of this document, highlighting the coordinated emission reduction of nitrogen oxides, VOCs and other pollutants.
The third is to strengthen joint prevention and control, which is a relatively successful experience in air quality control in recent years, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the surrounding areas have changed from "2 + 26" cities to "2 + 36" cities, and the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are basically coordinated to open up and solve air pollution in the eastern region as a whole. Thank you!
CCTV reporter from China Central Radio and Television asked questions (photo by Liu Jian)
CCTV reporter from China Central Radio and Television:
We are concerned that the Action Plan has made adjustments to key areas. In the past, the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" were the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and later the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surroundings, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain.
Liu Bingjiang:
Thank you. The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law clearly stipulates that the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council, that is, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, shall determine the key areas for the prevention and control of air pollutants in the country according to the main functional zoning, pollution status, transmission characteristics and transmission paths, and submit them to the State Council for approval. You observe very carefully, the first "atmospheric ten" is the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, including 47 cities, the "Three-year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War" is the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Fenwei Plain, a total of 80 cities, this time it is 82 cities. Its characteristic is that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas have been adjusted more, from the original "2+26" city to "2+36" city. On the whole, the total number of key cities in the national air pollution prevention and control has not changed much, mainly from 80 cities to 82 cities, and the PM2.5 in the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta has basically reached the standard, so it is eliminated, which is determined according to the current situation of air quality improvement and the characteristics of atmospheric transmission.
"2 + 26" has become "2 + 36", ten years of continuous tackling, and now it is found that in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the surrounding areas, the PM2.5 concentration in the border areas of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Henan provinces is almost close to the PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas and the Fenwei Plain, which is about 45 micrograms/cubic meter, becoming a more prominent pollution area. On the basis of this characteristic, as well as the results of years of monitoring observations, meteorological parameters and scientific research, the area has been included. Cities that are included in the key areas of national air pollution prevention and control will have greater support from the state and heavier tasks, so that the concept of an air basin will be formed in the whole region. As we all know, there is a boundary in the water basin, and as we professionals, we all know where the boundary of the atmospheric basin is, so that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the surrounding areas and the Yangtze River Delta region can be connected as a whole, and the air pollution problem can be solved systematically and holistically. Thank you!
Cover News Reporter Asks Questions (Photo by Liu Jian)
Cover News Reporter:
Ten years ago, China proposed to declare war on air pollution, and it has also become the country with the fastest rate of air quality improvement in the world. We know that the cycle of improving air quality through transformation is often long, what are the problems and chronic problems in improving air quality? Does it mean that the extent of air quality improvement will slow down or even repeat in the coming period? What are the key measures in the Action Plan to solve these problems? Thank you.
Liu Bingjiang:
You asked three questions in a row, and these questions are still relatively level. In the past ten years, everyone can feel the level of air pollution control, Beijing's PM2.5 has dropped from 89.5 micrograms in 2013 to 30 micrograms last year, and the number of heavily polluted days has dropped from the original 58 days to the current 2 to 3 days. "Beijing Blue" has become the norm and has been recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme as the "Beijing Miracle" to countries around the world. But now our country has not improved enough, like last year's PM2.5 concentration was 29 micrograms, five or six times the World Health Organization standard, is 2-4 times that of developed countries, PM2.5 is the most harmful to human health among all pollutants, this needs technology to solve the problem.
Our country's air pollution control has indeed entered a critical period of moving forward with a heavy burden and climbing over hurdles, and the green transformation must indeed have enough time, and it cannot be achieved overnight. Whether there will be stagnation or fluctuation in the next few years depends on several aspects. For example, if we take a closer look at our first "Ten Atmospheric Measures" and the second "Ten Atmospheric Measures", what is the biggest opportunity from 2013 to 2020? In the past eight years, our country's coal consumption has been declining year by year, and the total coal consumption in 2020 and 2013 has dropped by about 5%, which is a historical opportunity that our country has never had since the reform and opening up. Now this opportunity is indeed a bit non-existent, but there is another big opportunity, that is, the green and low-carbon transformation in the transportation field, you can see the "action plan", many quantitative indicators, many bright spots, because now PM2.5 occurs in the pollution process, mainly driven by nitrogen oxides, which is a great feature.
In addition, looking at the climatic conditions, our country's air quality has transitioned in recent years, from 2013 to 2016 is four consecutive years of El Niño, 2017 to 2019 is a normal year, and from 2020 to 2022 during the three-year epidemic, it happens to be a La Niña year. According to the predictions of climate experts, our country has two cycles, a small cycle and a large cycle, and the small cycle is that El Niño rotates every 4 to 7 years, and this year it enters a moderate or above intensity El Niño process. Another big cycle, every 20 years, our country has entered a period of frequent and high occurrence of sand and dust, the early 80s to 2003 is 20 years, and now it is another 20 years, in the first half of this year, the phenomenon of sand and dust has been very obvious.
Third, our country is the world's largest manufacturing country, regardless of coal consumption, steel production, non-ferrous metal production, crude oil processing capacity, power generation, are firmly ranked first in the world, we have been saying that the industrial structure is dominated by heavy chemicals, the energy structure is dominated by coal, and the situation of transportation based on highways has not yet undergone a fundamental change. In this case, you have also seen that China's air quality has indeed fluctuated a little this year, but this fluctuation is normal, which precisely reflects the long-term and arduous nature of air pollution control.
In the next step, we will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, adhere to precise, scientific and law-based pollution control, and fully implement the measures of the Action Plan, and we are confident that we will continue to improve air quality. Thank you!
A reporter from Hong Kong China Review Press asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Reporter from Hong Kong China Review Press:
The data shows that from January to October this year, the average proportion of days with good air quality in 339 cities at and above the prefecture level was 85.1%, down 1.2 percentage points year-on-year, the average proportion of days with severe pollution and above was 1.6%, up 0.8 percentage points year-on-year, and the average concentration of PM2.5 increased by 3.7% year-on-year. What is the reason for this? What is the prediction of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on the national air quality situation for the whole year and whether the annual target can be achieved? Thank you.
Liu Bingjiang:
As you said, air quality has fluctuated across the country this year, but frankly, stabilizing at this level has greatly strengthened our confidence in further improving air quality in the future. The significant reduction in socio-economic activity during the pandemic, coupled with three consecutive years of La Niña, has led to a 7 microgram per cubic meter reduction in PM2.5 concentrations in 2022 compared to 2019, which has indeed led to further improvements in air quality. We had predicted that PM2.5 concentrations could rebound sharply this year, and we set a goal of increasing PM2.5 concentrations by more than 10% this year compared to last year, but now they have only risen by 3.6%, so we are more confident that we will improve further in the future.
By "stable", we mean that the national PM2.5 concentration has only increased by 1 microgram per cubic meter year-on-year, which is basically the same as during the epidemic and 12% lower than in 2019. According to the statistics of the China Meteorological Administration, a total of 17 sandstorms have occurred across the country this year, the most in the past decade, 50% higher than the average, of which sandstorms and above intensity processes reached 5 times, which is about twice the average of the same period in the past ten years. In particular, the strong sandstorm from March 19 to 23 affected more than 20 provinces, and the PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in many places in the north reached serious pollution, and the peak PM10 concentration in Zhangjiakou exceeded 9,000 micrograms per cubic meter. Satellite observation data show that this year's sand and dust weather in China has affected China's land area of 5.29 million square kilometers, more than half of China. As of the end of November, the sand and dust weather alone has caused a loss of 3.3 percentage points in the ratio of good days in China, causing the concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 to rise by 1 microgram per cubic meter and 10 micrograms per cubic meter respectively, which is the most influential year in the past decade. After the epidemic, the increase in air pollutant emissions is also relatively large, to give a data, thermal power generation increased by 5.7%, the output of ten non-ferrous metals increased by 7%, crude oil processing increased by 11.2%, road passenger transport and road freight increased by 23.5% and 8.2% respectively, and the significant increase in economic activity brought about an increase in pollutant emissions. Under the influence of these two factors, by the end of November, the national PM2.5 concentration only increased slightly by 3.6% year-on-year, that is, an increase of 1 microgram per cubic meter, which is better than this year's target task and the timing progress of the "14th Five-Year Plan", so it is said to be stable. The PM2.5 concentration has stabilized in this place, which is now 29 micrograms per cubic meter, and by the end of the year, it is expected to be 30 micrograms per cubic meter if there is no widespread pollution process.
The three major regions of the country, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Fenwei Plain, have seen their PM2.5 concentrations improve on average. This kind of "steady progress" has strengthened our confidence, and it is much better than predicted at the beginning of the year. The main reason for the current situation is that since the beginning of this year, we have worked with relevant departments and localities to increase the intensity of project, structural and management emission reductions. At the beginning of the year, we thought that the uncertainty caused by climate anomalies would be offset by more emissions reductions. Because it has not yet reached the end of the year, the entire data has not been accumulated, for example, ultra-low emission transformation, ultra-low emission transformation of the steel industry, the country has completed a total of 400 million tons, of which, this year's completion is equal to the sum of previous years. All coke ovens below 4.3 meters in Shanxi Province have been withdrawn this year, with a total production capacity of 23 million tons, which is a relatively large emission reduction. All long-chain steel production capacity in Shandong Province located in the former "2+26" channel cities has been cleared. For example, we are promoting clean heating in the northern region, and we have completed 2 million households this year. In terms of transportation adjustment, 65 special railway lines have been completed and opened, and the national railway and water freight volume has increased by 6% year-on-year, and the sales of new energy heavy trucks have increased by 36.9% year-on-year to 24,000 units. This year, we have inspected a total of 38,000 enterprises and targeted more than 11,000 gas-related environmental problems. Through the above measures, as long as there is no long-term and large-scale pollution process in the next 20 days, it can be said that we will make progress while maintaining stability, and it will also strengthen our confidence in continuously improving air quality in the future. Thank you!
Reuters reporter asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Reuters:
My question is twofold, for the action plan for continuous improvement of air quality, you have mentioned these three priority areas, I would like to ask whether the State Council will implement a coal consumption reduction target for other regions in the future, and in addition, will the State Council implement a national coal consumption reduction target? Thank you.
Liu Bingjiang:
Article 90 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution stipulates that any new, reconstructed or expanded coal-related projects in key areas of national air pollution prevention and control must be replaced by equal or reduced amounts of coal. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Fenwei Plain, new coal-related projects must implement the same or reduced amount of coal as a substitute, so that the increment has been stabilized. PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas should be reduced by 20%, and the Fenwei Plain should be reduced by 15%, and the total coal consumption control in these areas is an effective measure, which is proposed according to the National Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, which requires that by 2025, coal consumption in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas will be reduced by 10% compared with 2020, and the Yangtze River Delta region will be reduced by 5%, and the Fenwei Plain will achieve negative growth. There is no clear legal requirement to control total coal consumption in areas outside the key areas of national air pollution prevention and control. Thank you.
Poster News reporter asks questions (photo by Liu Jian)
Poster News Reporter:
With the support of all sectors of society, our air quality has been significantly improved, at this stage to continue to carry out air pollution control can still get the strong support of the public is also a key question, there are some public misunderstandings, they think that the prevention and control of air pollution may affect the economy, and even affect people's livelihood, what do you think of this problem? Thank you.
Liu Bingjiang:
Clean air is the most inclusive and equitable public good, and everyone is eager to enjoy clean air every day. The health and well-being of the people are closely related to air pollution, according to the results of China's scientific research, the implementation of the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" and the three-year action plan for the blue sky defense campaign, because of the improvement of air quality, the health benefits of our people are very obvious. Tackling air pollution fully reflects our country's people-centered development philosophy, and continuous improvement of air quality means improving people's livelihood. It should be said that, as you said, the improvement of air quality in the first decade was widely supported by the people, and in 2013, when the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" were formulated, the people were looking forward to the early improvement of air quality and the removal of smog.
Actually, you asked about the relationship between air quality improvement and economic development, and some people say that air quality improvement affects economic development, and there is a statistic that our country's GDP has doubled in this decade, but PM2.5 has dropped by 57%. The improvement of air quality is obvious, and the GDP growth is also very good, so air pollution control has achieved a win-win situation in economic, environmental and social benefits.
According to our preliminary statistics, because air pollution control directly and indirectly drives investment of about 4 trillion yuan and drives GDP growth of 5 trillion yuan, this data is relatively large. Moreover, because of the improvement of air quality, many new technologies and new products independently developed by our country have been widely used, which has effectively promoted the development of green energy-saving and environmental protection industries such as environmental protection equipment manufacturing, comprehensive technical services, boiler transformation, and new energy vehicles, and increased non-agricultural employment by more than 3 million.
For example, in the steel industry, in the past ten years, through the resolution of excess capacity and ultra-low emission transformation, the national crude steel output increased by 25% at the same time, the number of enterprises decreased by 29%, the average size increased by 52%, and the country has accumulated more than 400 million tons of crude steel to complete the ultra-low emission transformation, and the iron and steel enterprises have a new look. If you borrow the words of the director general of the World Steel Association, after visiting the ultra-low emission transformation of many Chinese steel enterprises, he said that the cleanliness of China's steel enterprises has been a level that no other country can reach, which is a more shocking sentence in the world steel industry, you can see it on the spot. At the same time, the ultra-low emission transformation has also attracted investment of more than 200 billion yuan, which is an important symbol of green development. Another example is clean heating, our statistical data, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei "two cities and one province" completed 15 million rural residents clean heating transformation, when the transformation began, the power grid also needs large-scale investment, the natural gas pipeline network is almost zero, gas storage capacity is basically not, the shortcomings of rural energy infrastructure sooner or later have to be filled, because to solve air pollution, the shortcomings have been made up, because the transformation of energy infrastructure has driven more than 200 billion yuan of investment, this investment has also achieved good results. These examples are vivid portrayals of the synergy between high-quality development and high-level protection, and indeed there are no problems affecting the economy, but rather optimizing and promoting the green and high-quality development of the economy. Thank you.
Taiwan United Daily reporter asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Taiwan United Daily reporter:
We see that the Plan of Action mentions the need to strengthen international cooperation. In recent years, while the mainland has continued to control air pollution, due to factors such as the northeast monsoon, haze has not only affected the mainland itself, but also affected neighboring parts of Asia. How can we further strengthen regional cooperation in the future to jointly address the problem of improving air pollution?
Liu Bingjiang:
Air pollution transmission knows no national borders, and under specific climatic conditions, air pollution will cross national borders and carry out international and even intercontinental transmission. Every country is a victim of air pollution, and every country should start from itself to reduce air pollution emissions, and contribute to the improvement of regional air quality in the process of reducing air pollution emissions.
China is the country with the fastest rate of improvement in air pollution, contributing to the improvement of regional air quality. In addition, China has actively participated in various bilateral and multilateral environmental cooperation between China and Japan, China and South Korea, China and Japan, and South Korea, Northeast Asia, East Asia, etc., and the cooperation has been relatively good. Since 2019, China and the ROK have started to implement the "Sunny Sky Plan" cooperation project, and the two sides have signed and implemented the "Sunny Sky Plan" Project List and Key Work Arrangements for five consecutive years. The China-Korea Environmental Cooperation Center and the China-Korea Joint Environmental Research Laboratory were launched, building a platform for cooperation in air pollution control between the two sides. Under the framework of the Trilateral Environment Ministers' Meeting of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, the Air Policy Dialogue and the Joint Research Working Group on Sand and Dust Storms have been established to provide a useful platform for the tripartite to carry out atmospheric environmental management and scientific research, and we participate in this meeting every year. As far as I know, South Korea has begun to learn from China's autumn and winter pollution prevention and control practices. In the next step, we will continue to do a good job in our own emission reduction work, and introduce our work experience to everyone by strengthening international cooperation, so as to make greater contributions to the improvement of regional air quality. Thank you!
Southern Metropolis Daily reporter asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Southern Metropolis Daily reporter:
We have noticed that the action plan released this time highlights the green and low-carbon transformation of transportation more than ever before.
Liu Bingjiang:
You've been very observant, and indeed you've caught the highlights. Let's be frank, from the 2013 "Ten Atmospheric Measures" to the 2018 Blue Sky Defense Three-Year Action Plan, we have been looking for good ways to govern the transportation sector. Because now, while the coal treatment is more effective, more and more feel that the pollution of mobile sources is more prominent, we can monitor every haze, nitrogen oxides are the main factor driving the rapid rise of PM2.5, the annual report released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection every year shows that nitrogen oxide emissions, mobile sources are the main contributors.
If you look at this action plan, the measures of transportation sources, compared with the "Ten Atmospheric Measures" and the three-year action plan for the blue sky defense campaign, there are many quantitative indicators of data. In 2017, Tianjin Port stopped receiving coal by road, and then all ports stopped transporting coal by heavy trucks, opening up a new job of "road to rail" in our country, and the railway traffic increased for six consecutive years since that year. The volume of railway freight transport in our country is close to 5 billion tons, compared to nearly 10%, and almost 40% in developed countries, and we still have a big gap.
Progress has been made in the promotion of zero-emission mobile sources. From 2013 to 2022, the proportion of 700,000 buses in the country has increased from 20% to nearly 80%, and many garbage removal vehicles in the city have begun to go green. Now more critically, in the process of carrying out ultra-low emissions of iron and steel enterprises, we require clean transportation, hydrogen energy heavy trucks, electric heavy trucks from zero to tens of thousands of vehicles per year, and air pollution control provides the application scenarios of new energy heavy trucks, which has indeed made a breakthrough.
The level of cleanliness of motor vehicles has also been greatly improved. In the first eight years, our country's motor vehicle emission standards were in line with the world, about 40 million old cars were eliminated, special actions were carried out for non-road machinery, and a total of 19 motor vehicle emission recalls were carried out, involving 17 companies and 3.25 million vehicles were recalled. It's a real thing to do for the sake of the environment.
There is a breakthrough in the electrification of non-road mobile machinery. Electric forklifts account for 60% of sales, and 94% of products below 3 tons are electric products. Others, such as airports, ports and terminals, are electrifying non-road machinery on a large scale.
At present, the proportion of nitrate in PM2.5 is still quite high, which is the first major factor, so now in this plan, the low-carbon green transformation in the transportation sector has the most ink, the most quantitative indicators, and the most detailed and specific measures. Among them are a few things:
First, the adjustment of freight structure is more focused on key areas. First, in the field of coal, the requirements for medium and long-distance transportation of coal and coke in the main coal-producing areas have been strengthened, and the proportion of railway transportation should strive to reach 90%, which is a large number. At the same time, we will explore clean transportation as the focus of project review and supervision in coal and other industries, and realize the "upstream supervision" of clean coal transportation. The second is to expand the scope of construction of special railway lines in key industries, and clarify the construction requirements of logistics parks, industrial and mining enterprises, coal storage bases, and coal mines, iron and steel, thermal power, nonferrous metals, coking, coal chemical and other industries with an annual freight volume of more than 1.5 million tons. Third, in the field of ports, on the basis of key regional ports, the proportion of clean transportation of iron ore and coke in major coastal ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be increased, and strive to reach 80%.
Second, the clean development of motor vehicles places more emphasis on new energy. Do a good job in the public sector of vehicles and heavy trucks two key points, to promote the level of cleanliness greatly improved, the public sector requires the proportion of new energy vehicles in key areas not less than 80%, medium and heavy trucks, especially the several industries I just mentioned, put forward the development of zero-emission truck fleet requirements.
Third, non-road mobility has strengthened comprehensive management, and there are very specific requirements for new energy substitution and old obsolescence, which can be operated and realized.
Fourth, the quality of refined oil products is more prominent, and the whole chain is supervised. The quality supervision of refined oil products should do a good job in six links, form a mechanism, and require the relevant departments to supervise the import, production, storage, sales, transportation, and use of oil products in the whole link of the "six links", so that the quality can be guaranteed, and resolutely crack down on the sale of non-standard oil as engine fuel. We will also step up enforcement efforts.
Our next step is to see how to do a good job, one thing at a time, one indicator at a time. Thank you.
Red Star News reporter asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Red Star News Reporter:
The 2023 budget report pointed out that the central government allocated 33 billion yuan for air pollution prevention and control, and one of the priorities is to support clean heating in the northern region in winter. How is the current progress of clean heating work? In the face of rising heating costs, how can we promote long-term stable operation? What are the specific arrangements for the next step? Thank you.
Liu Bingjiang:
The clean heating work has been carried out for so many years, especially the problem of scattered coal management in rural areas, which is indeed a pioneering work, a difficult problem, and a question that everyone will ask every year. Clean heating from the beginning of the idea to the work of the project, to today's scale, as of the end of last year, the rural areas have completed the transformation of 37 million households, this year to increase more than 2 million households, is estimated to be more than 39 million households, the world has never had such a large-scale project, said to be an environmental protection project, in fact, it is also a people's livelihood project. Now 88 cities have been included in the scope of central financial support for clean heating, the central government has increased funds every year, reaching 33 billion yuan this year, and the cumulative special funds for clean heating account for half, 100.88 billion yuan, reducing coal consumption by more than 70 million tons, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100 million tons, and the people have bid farewell to the era of smoky fire heating, which is also a landmark achievement of the energy consumption revolution, and the way of rural energy consumption has undergone revolutionary changes.
You said that now the cost has increased, how to stabilize, this is indeed a current problem. We have several main considerations: First, every year with financial funds to give rural clean heating operation subsidies, the state, provinces, municipalities should be subsidized, in general, the subsidy after the cost of electricity, gas in principle is not higher than the cost of coal. Since 2020, subsidies for clean heating have been included in the air pollution prevention and control fund. The second is the issue of preferential gas and electricity prices. There are state subsidies for urban residents to use gas, and now there are also subsidies for clean heating in rural areas, and the price of gas in rural areas is relatively favorable, but now the implementation in some places is not very good. The electricity price also has a peak-to-valley electricity price, and the peak-to-valley electricity price is used well, and the energy is stored at night, and the heat is released during the day, so the price is relatively low. Originally, everyone reported that the valley power time was relatively short, but now the time has also been expanded. The third is the issue of clean energy supply guarantee. This is the focus of our work every year, and we coordinate with relevant departments to ensure the supply of natural gas and electricity. Fourth, supervision and assistance. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) conducts annual inspections of new rural households to see if the contracts have been signed and whether they can be guaranteed.
At present, the focus of clean heating work has shifted from the original large-scale increase in the proportion of clean heating to the consolidation of stock and orderly addition. The work we are doing now and the next step is as follows: First, we should earnestly grasp the continuous operation of clean heating, consolidate the results of clean heating, and constantly improve the long-term mechanism of clean heating, so as to ensure that the operation is managed, the support policies are continued, the heating safety is guaranteed, and the scattered coal is not burned; second, the new clean heating transformation is implemented in an orderly manner, and the areas that are carrying out clean heating are carried out in an orderly manner in accordance with the established implementation plan; and the areas that have not been renovated for the time being should persist in proceeding from reality and steadily implementing the new clean heating transformation according to local conditions. The third is to adhere to the consistent principle in the process of transformation, put the people's warmth in the winter in the first place, adhere to the gas to determine the reform, supply and demand, to ensure the stable supply of energy, adhere to the first to stand and then break, not to stand and not break, the new transformation does not have safe and stable ventilation conditions, has not been tested by one year of actual operation, shall not dismantle the original coal-fired heating facilities, adhere to the local conditions and reasonable selection of diversified clean heating methods, for the continuous operation of clean heating to lay the foundation.
With the joint efforts of all departments, local governments and all sectors of society, we are confident that we will continue to do a good job in this major livelihood project and people's support project, and implement the people's needs for a safe, clean and warm winter. Thank you.
Questions from a reporter from China News Service (photo by Liu Jian)
China News Service:
To improve air quality and fight the battle to defend blue skies, it is necessary to play a good "combination of rule of law", market, science and technology, and policy, especially to strengthen policy support such as finance, taxation and price. What are the measures taken by the Plan in terms of coordinating the joint efforts of all parties?
Liu Bingjiang:
It should be said that the results of today's improvement in air quality are felt by the people, and the cooperation between various departments is exemplary. To be honest, every time more than 20 ministries and commissions sign a document, everyone can sign it quickly, which in itself shows the support for the work. In the past ten years of air pollution control, everyone has worked together to achieve such good results, and the cooperation of various departments is very effective, using the rule of law, market, science and technology, policies and other means to promote the continuous improvement of air quality, which is a "combination of punches", which is very successful and effective. After ten years of efforts, "breathe and work together" has become the code of conduct of the whole society, and this "combination punch" is still retained and strengthened in the latest "Air Quality Continuous Improvement Action Plan".
First, we should give full play to the role of fiscal and financial guidance. In the past ten years, the central government's air pollution prevention and control funds have increased year after year, with a total of more than 200 billion yuan, especially the most difficult bone of rural clean heating. At the same time, we will further increase credit financing support in related fields, promote green finance, and guide social capital investment, which is relatively large.
The second is to give full play to the price policy. The implementation of the desulfurization, denitrification, dust removal electricity price and ultra-low emission electricity price policies has promoted our country to become the world's largest clean coal-fired power generation base, and the emission level of air pollutants from coal-fired units is as high as the level of natural gas. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, the price of clean heating electricity and natural gas are all discounted. There are also preferential treatment for port shore power facilities, and now the flexible adjustment mechanism of railway freight rates is being improved, and after the "road to railway", railway transportation prices should also be preferential.
The third is to give play to the role of tax regulation. More than 80 percent of the country's annual environmental protection tax revenue of more than 20 billion yuan comes from the atmospheric sector. If the ultra-low emission transformation is completed, the implementation of preferential tax policies will strongly support the enterprise to carry out the ultra-low emission transformation. The current environmental protection tax is mainly aimed at particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, the next step, will continue to strengthen tax policy support, improve the environmental protection tax collection system, accelerate the inclusion of VOCs in the scope of collection, play the role of tax incentives and constraints, more emissions and more payment, less emissions and less payment, mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises for VOCs governance.
Fourth, improve the system of laws, regulations and standards. The energy consumption standards and air pollutant emission standards of key industries have been clearly stipulated, and the next step will continue to improve the system of laws, regulations and standards, study and revise relevant laws, and start the research on the revision of ambient air quality standards and related technical specifications.
Fifth, strengthen scientific and technological support. Scientific and technological support has played a huge role in the prevention and control of air pollution, and now scientific and technological workers are tackling some difficult problems, and there is already a good momentum, and good results have been achieved in compound pollution control, air pollution transmission mechanism, accurate traceability of pollutants, and intelligent supervision.
Therefore, this "combination punch" has been very successful in the first ten years, and it will continue to play its role in the future to achieve the goal of improving air quality. Thank you.
Farmer's Daily China Rural Net reporter asked a question (photo by Liu Jian)
Reporter of Farmer's Daily China Rural Net:
"Building a beautiful countryside" is an important part of building a "beautiful China". How will the Action Plan ensure that the air quality in rural areas continues to be good?
Liu Bingjiang:
Thank you. Air quality improvement is non-discriminatory, and there are indeed several issues worth noting in rural areas, such as pollution in the countryside, which explicitly requires strict project approval to prevent pollution from going to the countryside, and new projects in key gas-related industries within 20 kilometers on both sides of the provincial border, which need to carry out EIA consensus consultations. We are also doing some work in rural areas, and there are several problems.
First, for example, rural scattered coal management, now has been relatively successful, which directly solves the problem of indoor air pollution of rural residents, farewell to the era of smoke and fire, outdoor pollution, indoor pollution, if you use loose coal for cooking, indoor PM2.5 concentration is more than 200 micrograms/cubic meter, through scattered coal treatment, this problem has been basically solved. There are several aspects of outdoor pollution: the use of loose coal in rural planting, aquaculture, and agricultural product processing industries, such as flue-cured tobacco, mushroom planting, grain processing, etc., which are all direct combustion of loose coal without any measures, so we clearly stipulate that they must be controlled. Now there have been very successful cases, such as Henan's flue-cured tobacco "coal to electricity" is very successful, the quality of the product has improved, and the problem of direct pollution discharge has been solved. In the next step, we will promote the rural planting industry, breeding industry, as well as the agricultural product processing industry, which involve loose coal, small boilers, and small kilns, and replace them with electricity as much as possible.
Second, there is also the issue of atmospheric ammonia emissions from rural aquaculture, which has been raised for the first time. Sulfates, nitrates, primary particulate matter, and VOCs in PM2.5 are clear. The main sources of ammonium salts are ammonia released during nitrogen fertilizer application and ammonia emitted from livestock and poultry farming. The "Action Plan" has been deployed in the adjustment of feed structure and the optimization of nitrogen fertilizer application technology, and the total atmospheric ammonia emissions of large-scale livestock and poultry farms in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei and surrounding areas should be reduced by 5%, and the departments of ecology and environment, agriculture and rural areas are studying and formulating policies to promote the pilot work.
Third, there is a large number of high-emission agricultural machinery used in the grain sowing and harvesting season, and the emission standards of agricultural machinery are low, and most of them have no treatment facilities, which is a shortcoming of our pollution control. There are other aspects of rural pollution, such as stubble burning. The problem of air pollution in rural areas is not only the problem of transmission, but also the problem of its own production and lifestyle. In everyone's mind, the countryside is full of fresh air and picturesque scenery, and I hope that everyone will work together to solve this problem. Thank you!
Xie Yingjun:
That's it for today's routine policy briefing. Thank you, Mr. Liu Bingjiang, and thank you to all journalists.
The scene of the regular briefing on the policy of the State Council (photo by Liu Jian)
