The relevant person in charge of the Atmospheric Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment answered the reporter’s question on the ＂Action Plan for Deeply Fighting Heavy Pollut

Recently, 15 departments, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, jointly issued the Action Plan for Deepening the Fight against Heavy Pollution Weather, Ozone Pollution Prevention and Control and Diesel Truck Pollution Control (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan). The relevant person in charge of the Atmospheric Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment answered the reporter’s questions on the background and main contents of the Action Plan.

Q: Please introduce the background and general idea of the Action Plan.

A:The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the prevention and control of air pollution. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s ambient air quality has been significantly improved by formulating and implementing the Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control and the Three-year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defence War. In 2021, the average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities above the prefecture level in China was 30 μ g/m3, which was 34.8% lower than that in 2015. The proportion of excellent days in China was 87.5%, which was 6.3 percentage points higher than that in 2015. The people’s sense of blue sky happiness and acquisition was significantly enhanced. However, the situation of air pollution control is still grim. Heavy pollution weather in autumn and winter in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei and surrounding areas is still high and frequent. More than half of the cities in the country still have heavy pollution weather, which is still a "heart and lung disease" for the people. Ozone pollution has become increasingly prominent, especially in summer, which has become the primary factor leading to excessive air quality in some cities. Since the beginning of this year, the national average ozone concentration has increased by 6.4% year-on-year. The pollution of diesel trucks has not been effectively solved, and the emission of nitrogen oxides from mobile sources accounts for about 60% of the total emission of nitrogen oxides in China, which contributes greatly to PM2.5 and ozone pollution.

General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out in the Party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress that it is necessary to further promote the prevention and control of environmental pollution, continue to fight the blue sky defense war, strengthen the coordinated control of pollutants, and basically eliminate the heavily polluted weather. "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Fight against Pollution" takes the fight against heavy polluted weather, ozone pollution and diesel truck pollution as three symbolic battles to deepen the battle against blue sky in the 14th Five-Year Plan. In order to thoroughly implement the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with 14 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Transport, jointly formulated the Action Plan, focusing on key areas, key time periods and key areas to carry out concentrated attacks, and to lay a solid foundation for the symbolic battle of defending the blue sky and promote the continuous improvement of air quality throughout the country.

Guided by Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era, the Action Plan thoroughly implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, fully implements the ecological civilization thought of the Supreme Leader, adheres to the people-centered development thought, adheres to the general tone of striving for progress while maintaining stability, takes the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the general starting point, takes precise pollution control, scientific pollution control and pollution control according to law as the working policy, and takes improving air quality as the core. Focusing on the outstanding problems that urgently need to be solved at present, such as heavy polluted weather, ozone pollution and diesel truck pollution, we will thoroughly fight the landmark battle of defending the blue sky, promote the smooth realization of the air quality improvement goal during the 14 th Five-Year Plan, and further enhance the people’s blue sky happiness and sense of acquisition.

The Action Plan includes an overall document and three action plans, namely, the action plan for eliminating heavy polluted weather, the action plan for ozone pollution prevention and control, and the action plan for pollution control of diesel trucks. The three landmark battles, namely, the elimination of heavy polluted weather, the prevention and control of ozone pollution and the tough battle of diesel truck pollution control, are coordinated and organically linked in terms of regions, fields and measures. The overall document clearly defines the importance of tackling tough battles, as well as the overall requirements, key tasks and safeguard measures; The three action plans deploy the targets, ideas and specific task measures of the three landmark campaigns.

Q: What are the key areas of the Action Plan for Eliminating Heavy Pollution Weather? What are the objectives and main measures for tackling the problem?

A:The battle to eliminate heavy polluted weather focuses on PM2.5 pollution, focusing on autumn and winter (October-March of the following year), adhering to local conditions and zoning policies, focusing on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas with frequent heavy polluted weather, Fenwei Plain, Northeast China and urban agglomerations on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain, and putting forward corresponding measures according to different regional pollution characteristics.

The goal is to basically eliminate severe and above polluted weather by 2025, control the proportion of severe and above polluted days within 1% in the whole country, completely eliminate severe polluted weather in more than 70% prefecture-level and above cities, and reduce the number of severe and above polluted days caused by human factors in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, Fenwei Plain, Northeast China and the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain by more than 30%.

The main measures include five key actions. First, the coordinated action of reducing pollution and carbon in the atmosphere will promote the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure and layout, promote the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, and carry out the upgrading and transformation of traditional industrial clusters; Second, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas and the Fenwei Plain will attack hard, continue to promote the reduction of regional steel production capacity and the transformation and upgrading of the coking industry, accelerate the implementation of in-depth treatment of industrial pollution emissions, and strengthen the scattered and inefficient coal-fired treatment of residents’ lives and agricultural production, small coal-fired boilers and industrial furnaces; Third, other regions have taken tough actions. On the basis of steadily and orderly promoting clean heating, the northeast region has accelerated the comprehensive management of straw burning, the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain has comprehensively improved the pollution control level of key industries, and other regions have formulated tough tasks and measures according to local conditions; The fourth is the joint response to heavy pollution weather, strengthening the capacity building of heavy pollution weather, improving the emergency plan for heavy pollution weather, strengthening the inventory management of emergency emission reduction measures, and strengthening the joint prevention and control of regional air pollution; Fifth, strengthen supervision and law enforcement, strictly enforce daily supervision and law enforcement, strengthen supervision and law enforcement in response to heavy pollution weather, and urge the implementation of heavy pollution emergency emission reduction responsibilities.

Q: Please briefly introduce the key areas of the Action Plan to Combat Ozone Pollution. What are the objectives and main measures for tackling the problem?

A:The battle against ozone pollution will focus on May-September, with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region and Fenwei Plain, where ozone pollution is more prominent, as the key areas for national ozone pollution prevention and control. The Pearl River Delta region, Chengdu-Chongqing region, urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and other cities with ozone exceeding the standard will carry out the battle under the guidance of the state, adhere to the principle of highlighting key points and classifying policies, increase the emission reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides, enhance their capabilities and fill the shortcomings.

The goal is: by 2025, the coordinated control of PM2.5 and ozone has achieved positive results, and the growth trend of ozone concentration in the country has been effectively curbed. The proportion of days with excellent air quality in the country has reached 87.5%, and the total emission of VOCs and nitrogen oxides has decreased by more than 10% respectively compared with 2020.

The main measures include five key actions. First, the source substitution of raw and auxiliary materials containing VOCs, speeding up the substitution of raw and auxiliary materials with low VOCs content in furniture, automobiles, construction machinery and other industries, and carrying out joint inspection on the compliance of raw and auxiliary materials containing VOCs such as paints, inks, adhesives and cleaning agents; Second, VOCs pollution control should meet the standards, clean up and rectify simple and inefficient VOCs control facilities, strengthen unorganized emission control of VOCs, strengthen emission control of abnormal working conditions, promote the improvement of VOCs-related industrial clusters and comprehensive control of VOCs in oil products; The third is to improve the pollution control of nitrogen oxides, implement the investigation and rectification of inefficient denitration facilities, promote the ultra-low emission transformation of coal-fired boilers and key industries such as steel, cement and coking, and implement the upgrading of industrial boilers and furnaces in glass, foundry and lime industries; Fourth, the construction of ozone precise prevention and control system, research on ozone generation mechanism, main sources and transmission law, strengthen scientific and technological support, improve VOCs emission, composition and environmental concentration monitoring system, focus on improving ozone pollution forecasting level, and carry out regional joint prevention and control of ozone pollution in summer; Fifth, the ability of pollution source supervision should be improved, pollution source monitoring and control should be strengthened, and the operation and maintenance supervision of treatment facilities should be strengthened, and precise supervision and assistance for ozone pollution prevention and control should be carried out around key industries such as petrochemical, chemical, painting, medicine, packaging and printing, steel, coking and building materials.

Q: Please briefly introduce the key areas of the Action Plan for Pollution Control of Diesel Freight Cars. What are the objectives and main measures for tackling the problem?

A:The battle against diesel truck pollution will focus on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, the relevant provinces (cities) in Fenwei Plain and the central and western cities in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, promote the adjustment of transportation structure and the cleanliness of vehicles and boats, strengthen the supervision of diesel trucks and off-road mobile machinery, and strengthen the coordinated prevention and control of departments and regions.

The key targets are: by 2025, the clean and low-carbon degree of transportation structure and vehicle and boat structure will be significantly improved, the fuel quality will continue to improve, the phenomenon of excessive black smoke from motor vehicles, construction machinery and railway diesel locomotives in key areas will be basically eliminated, the national diesel truck emission detection pass rate will exceed 90%, the national diesel truck nitrogen oxide emission will drop by 12%, the proportion of new energy and national six emission standard trucks will strive to exceed 40%, and the proportion of railway freight volume will increase by 0.5 percentage points.

The main measures include five key actions. First, the actions of "revolving iron" and "revolving water" will be promoted, the freight capacity of railway trunk lines will be continuously improved, the construction of special railway lines will be accelerated, and the shortcomings of special railway lines for industrial and mining enterprises, ports and logistics parks will be accurately filled; The second is the clean-up action of diesel trucks, which will promote the clean-up of traditional cars and fully meet the emission standards, and accelerate the development of new energy for automobiles; Third, the comprehensive management of off-road mobile sources, promoting the clean development of off-road mobile machinery, implementing the fourth-stage emission standard of off-road mobile diesel machinery, strengthening emission supervision, and promoting the green development of port ships; Fourth, key car-using enterprises should strengthen supervision actions, promote clean transportation of enterprises in key industries such as thermal power, steel, coal, coking, nonferrous metals and building materials (including sand and gravel aggregate), strengthen emergency control of mobile sources of key industrial and mining enterprises, and establish a list of major car users and a white list of trucks to achieve dynamic management. The fifth is the joint enforcement action of diesel trucks. Improve the collaborative supervision mode of departments, carry out joint law enforcement in key areas, promote data information sharing and application, build a remote online monitoring platform for heavy-duty diesel vehicles and off-road mobile machinery, and explore the digital supervision mode of over-standard identification, positioning, evidence collection and law enforcement.

Q: What are the follow-up work arrangements after the release of the Action Plan?

A:In order to implement the Action Plan, complete the key tasks of eliminating heavy polluted weather, preventing ozone pollution and controlling diesel truck pollution, solve outstanding atmospheric environmental problems that people care about, and continuously improve air quality, the following key tasks will be done in the follow-up.

The first is to strengthen organization and coordination. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will give full play to the role of overall planning and coordination, strengthen coordination with relevant departments, and coordinate and solve difficulties and problems in the process of promotion in a timely manner; Guide all localities to clearly define the division of responsibilities, do a good job in sub-regional and sub-annual task decomposition, strictly supervise and assess, and ensure that all tasks and measures are implemented.

The second is to strengthen the guidance and scheduling. Guide all localities to accelerate the key projects of eliminating heavy polluted weather, ozone pollution prevention and control and diesel truck pollution control, consolidate basic capabilities, and strengthen joint prevention and control; At the same time, establish a scheduling notification mechanism, regularly schedule the progress of key tasks in various places, inform the improvement of air quality, and ensure that the target tasks are completed on schedule.

The third is to do a good job of publicity and interpretation. Strengthen publicity, interpretation, technical guidance and other work to ensure that relevant departments, localities, enterprises, etc. understand, grasp and implement the relevant requirements of the attack, effectively coordinate the smooth operation of the economy, the protection of people’s livelihood and the prevention and control of air pollution, carry out the attack accurately and scientifically, and effectively play the role of social supervision.