China vows big winter air pollution cuts in northern cities

China has pledged to cut average concentrations of airborne particles known as PM2.5 by more than 15 per cent year on year in 28 northern cities from October to March to meet key smog targets, the environment ministry said.

In a 143-page winter smog “battle plan” dated Monday but posted on its website on Thursday, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said the new target would apply to Beijing and Tianjin, along with 26 other cities in the smog-prone provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan.

China’s efforts to control pollution have often roiled prices for steel, iron ore and coal as regulations frequently result in cuts of output of these and other commodities.

China is under pressure this year to meet politically important 2017 air quality targets. It aims to cut 2012 levels of PM2.5 by more than a quarter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and bring average concentrations down to 60 micrograms per cubic metre in the Chinese capital.

But average concentrations were up in the first seven months of the year as a result of near record-high smog in January and February that China blamed on “unfavourable weather conditions”.