BEIJING (Reuters) – China has a “long way to go” on environmental protection, its State Council acknowledged on Sunday, as it announced an “in-depth” fight against pollution with new targets for cleaner air and water and measures to tackle carbon emissions.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, said there had been some improvements in the country’s ecological situation since the launch of its anti-pollution campaign, state news agency Xinhua reported.
But the Council said it would be tough to tackle pollution and ensure that carbon emissions peaked in 2030 and that carbon neutrality was achieved by 2060, as promised by President Xi Jinping.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
“The ecological and environment protection campaign has a long way to go,” the Council said in a statement.
China aims to bring the proportion of good water quality in its coastal regions up to 79%, to basically eliminate heavy polluted weather, to effectively control soil pollution risks and to significantly enhance the capability of treating solid waste and new pollutants, the statement said.
The government also vowed to cut the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mainly emitted by petroleum and chemical industries, and nitrogen oxides by at least 10% in 2025 from 2020 levels, to halt the rise in ground ozone pollution.
It will try to meet its ambitious environmental goals without major disruption of economic and industrial activity and people’s everyday lives, the statement said.
China will focus on key sectors such as energy, steel and transport in its efforts to curb carbon emissions, it said.
President Xi has faced criticism, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, for not attending the U.N. climate gathering now underway in Glasgow, Scotland.
Beijing has also not offered new targets in the non-binding national climate change plans, known as NDCs, that must be submitted regularly to the United Nations as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement on tackling climate change.
(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Gareth Jones)
