China’s pollution reduction targets

China published new targets for the reduction of major pollutants in Jun, 2010,  as it ran into the final year to realize its green goals.

The country will meet its binding targets to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the major cause of air pollution, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) – the main indicator of water pollution – by 10 percent from 2005 levels in 2010.

China's pollution

The authorities also aim to reduce another 400,000 tons of SO2 and 200,000 tons of COD beyond the targets, which were set in its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10)

China’s pollution reduction meets targets set for 11th Five-Year Plan

On Aug. 29, 2011 news released by Xinhua, BEIJING.  China’s pollution reduction met the targets set for the 11th Five-Year Plan between 2006 and 2010, an environmental official said on Friday at a press conference.   Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Li Ganjie said emissions of sulfur dioxide and the amount of chemical oxygen demand (COD) were reduced by 14.29 percent and 12.45 percent respectively from that of 2005. “Both the figures exceeded the target set for the 2006-2010 period which was 10 percent,” Li said.

However, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian warned at a meeting last December that the country’s pollution control mission for the next five-year period (2011-2015) will be “fairly arduous” as major pollutant emissions remained huge and new pollution sources emerged.

According to the statement, except the sewage pollution,  solid waste management will also become one of the key planned projects in the next five-year period(2011-2015).