China unveils new plan to tackle pollution

BEIJING // China announced yesterday it will ban new coal-fired power plants in three key industrial regions around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in its latest bid to combat the country’s notorious air pollution.

The action plan from the state council, China’s cabinet, also aims to cut coal’s share of the country’s total primary energy use to below 65 per cent by 2017 and increase the share of nuclear power, natural gas and renewable energy. According to Chinese government statistics, coal consumption accounted for 68.4 per cent of total energy use in 2011.

New coal-fired power plants will be banned for new projects in the region surrounding Beijing, in the Yangtze Delta region near Shanghai and in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, the state council said.

Martin Adams, Hong Kong-based energy editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said coal’s share of China’s energy consumption was already expected to fall below 65 per cent by 2017 and that utility companies had noticed approvals for coal plants were no longer being given.

Mr Adams also noted that, while coal would account for a smaller proportion of total energy production, the absolute amount of coal burning would continue to rise.

Speaking about the new action plan, Mr Adams said: “There is less to it probably than meets the eye. Of course, saying it out loud does send a signal that the government is serious about, at least, decreasing the rate at which coal consumption grows and about getting more renewables and natural gas and nuclear.

“I think possibly just as important, if not more important, is the signal that it sends to the Chinese people that, ‘we are trying to control pollution levels on the eastern seaboard’.”

The government has come under increasing pressure from the growing middle class to clean up China’s air pollution, much of which comes from the burning of coal.

The action plan calls for the density of fine particulate matter – a gauge of air pollution – in Beijing to drop by 25 per cent by 2017 from 2012 levels and by at least 10 per cent in cities nationally.

It aims to raise the share of non-fossil fuel energy such as solar and wind power to 13 per cent by 2017. It was 9.1 per cent last year.

The environmental campaign group Greenpeace welcomed the plan, saying it would set an important precedent that should be extended throughout China and followed by other major countries.

“China’s political leadership has set an ambitious timeline to solve China’s air pollution crisis, responding to the mandate set by the Chinese public,” Li Yan, climate and energy campaign manager at Greenpeace East Asia, said. “The targets can only be met by tackling China’s coal consumption growth and the plan takes very important steps in that direction,” she said.

* Associated Press