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Reuters

China will cut emissions of major pollutants in the power sector by 60 per cent by 2020, the cabinet said Wednesday after world leaders met in Paris to address climate change.
Beijing will also reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power generation by 180 million tonnes by 2020, said a statement on the official government website.
It did not give comparative figures , but said the cuts would be made through efficiency gains.
Watch: China's power sector to slash pollution by 2020

In Paris, Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said she had not seen the announcement, but linked it to expectations that China's coal use would peak by the end of the decade.
“I can only assume they are talking about the same thing,” she said.
Read more: Hazardous smog levels engulf Beijing and northern China: children and elderly warned to stay indoors
Su Wei, China's delegate at the Paris talks, “noted with concern” what he called a lack of commitment by the rich to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and help developing nations with new finance to tackle global warming.
Researchers at Chinese government-backed think-tanks said last month that coal consumption by power stations in China would probably peak by 2020.
An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Wednesday's announcement seemed to relate more to air pollutants than greenhouse gas emissions.
The efficiency target is in line with earlier emissions standards announced in 2014, but it tightens things up for coal-fired plants nationwide, without regional differences
Yuan Jiahai, researcher
China's capital, Beijing, suffered choking pollution this week, triggering an “orange” alert, the second-highest level, closing highways, halting or suspending construction and prompting a warning to residents to stay indoors.
The smog was caused by “unfavourable” weather, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. Emissions in northern China soar over winter as urban heating systems are switched on and low wind speeds mean that polluted air does not get dispersed.
The hazardous air, which cleared on Wednesday, underscores the challenge facing the government as it battles pollution caused by the coal-burning power industry and raises questions about its ability to clean up its economy.
Read more: Beijing’s pollution saviour: Mother Nature
Reducing coal use and promoting cleaner forms of energy are set to play a crucial role in China's pledges to bring its greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by around 2030.
Beijing has pledged to reduce the share of coal in total energy consumption to 60 per cent by the end of the decade. It has banned the use of low-grade coals.
Premier Li Keqiang has said China would set an efficiency “bottom line” of 310 grams of coal per kilowatt-hour for plants across the country, the government website said.
The average for the first 10 months of 2015 was 318 grams, according to official data.
Read more: Beijing air pollution: black humour and satire as capital is shrouded yet again in thick smog
“The efficiency target is in line with earlier emissions standards announced in 2014, but it tightens things up for coal-fired plants nationwide, without regional differences,” said Yuan Jiahai, a researcher with the North China Electric Power University.
The cabinet also said that it would provide more financial support, including preferential loans, to help firms renovate.
Beijing already provides subsidies for firms that have installed the mandatory equipment.
China's coal-fired power sector is notoriously inefficient.
Utilisation rates have fallen nearly 8 per cent this year to reach a record low, but surplus capacity could still be as high as 130 GW (gigawatt), or 14 per cent of the total, industry estimates show.
Also, local governments continue to approve new capacity even as the country shuts outdated ones. Around 200 GW of capacity was given the go-ahead in the first half of 2015, while only 4.9 GW of small and ageing plants were shut in 2014.


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China pollution

China pollution pledge: Beijing to cut 60pc of power sector emissions by 2020

In this photo taken on November 19, 2015, smoke belches from a coal-fired power station near Datong, in China's northern Shanxi province. A Chinese pledge to upgrade the nation's coal-fired power plants to cut pollution is aimed mainly at soothing domestic fears over dangerous smog, rather than tackling climate change emissions, analysts said on December 3. AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

China’s pledge to cut coal consumption at its power plants to help reduce pollution comes after health concerns over dangerous levels of smog that engulfed the capital and other areas of northern China earlier this week. Photo: AFP

Beijing air pollution: black humour and satire as capital is shrouded yet again in thick smog

No Caption Available.

Cyclists brave the smog in the streets of the capital. Photo: Associated Press

Beijing issues highest smog alert of the year as capital chokes on ‘very unhealthy’ air 

Pedestrians walk pass by Beijing's Tianamen Square as smog persisted in northern China for a second day. Photo: Simon Song

Pedestrians walk near vehicles at a street during a heavily polluted day in Beijing on November 29. Photo: Reuters

A view from a viewing deck on the China Central Radio and Television Tower shows the city of Beijing in heavy smog, China, November 29, 2015. Heavy smog continues in Beijing on Sunday after a yellow alert of air pollution was issued on Friday, local media reported. Beijing plans to ramp up its already tough car emission standards by 2017 in a bid by one of the world's most polluted cities to improve its often hazardous air quality. REUTERS/Stringer CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

A man wearing a mask waits for a taxi amid heavy smog in Beijing, China, November 28, 2015. Heavy smog continues in Beijing on Saturday after a yellow alert of air pollution was issued on Friday, local media reported. Beijing plans to ramp up its already tough car emission standards by 2017 in a bid by one of the world's most polluted cities to improve its often hazardous air quality. REUTERS/Jason Lee

A view from a viewing deck on the China Central Radio and Television Tower shows the city of Beijing in heavy smog on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

A man wearing a mask waits for a taxi amid heavy smog in Beijing on Saturday. Photo: Reuters


Heavy smog shrouded Beijing on Monday. Photo: Simon Song

Beijing’s smog off the scale but still no sign of top red alert

epaselect epa05050234 Vehicles travel through a main thoroughfare during a hazy day in Beijing city, China, 01 December 2015. Beijing issued an orange alert for heavy smog 30 November, the highest level this year.The PM 2.5 air quality index measuring fine particle air pollution in Beijing is more than 500. EPA/WU HONG

A tricycle taxi rider waits for customers on a heavily polluted evening in Beijing on December 1, 2015. Beijing ordered hundreds of factories to shut and allowed children to skip school as choking smog reached over 25 times safe levels on December 1, casting a cloud over China's participation in Paris climate talks. AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

Vehicles travel through a main thoroughfare during a hazy day in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Hazardous smog levels engulf Beijing and northern China: children and elderly warned to stay indoors

People wearing face masks walk across Tiananmen Square on a day with poor air quality in Beijing. Photo: AP

IN PICTURES: Living under a hazardous cloud: Beijing residents battle smog nearly 24 times worse than accepted safety levels

Visitors use mobile phones to take pictures and videos as they watch a flag-raising ceremony at the Tiananmen Square amid heavy smog in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

A man walks in Wangjing area in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

Artist Kong Ning wears a wedding dress, made from 999 respirators, as he walks in Beijing to help publicise the need for environmental protection measures in China. Photo: Xinhua

Heavy smog shrouds the Forbidden City in the Chinese capital. Photo: Simon Song

Cars disappear in the smog in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

Two women wear masks during a day of heavy pollution in Beijing. Photo: AFP

A man wearing a protective mask walks as smog covers Beijing on an extremely polluted day. Photo: Reuters

A woman takes a selfie photo of herself and the smog. Photo: Simon Song

Vehicles pass a road as smog covers Beijing on another extremely polluted day. Photo: Reuters

A natural-colour image of the Eastern Asia subregion, acquired using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite on November 30, 2015. The image shows extensive haze, low clouds, and fog over the region. The brightest areas are clouds or fog, which have tinges of gray or yellow because of the air pollution. Other cloud-free areas have a pall of gray haze (C-L) that mostly blots out the cities below. In areas where the ground is visible, some of the landscape is covered with snow. The haze extended southwest from Beijing for hundreds of kilometers and was particularly dense in low-lying areas in the Guanzhong Plain (centre). Photo: EPA/NASA

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Richer developed nations not doing enough to make deep cuts in greenhouse emissions and help developing nations with new finance to tackle global warming, says Beijing


Paris climate summit 2015

China pollution pledge: Beijing to cut 60pc of power sector emissions by 2020

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Richer developed nations not doing enough to make deep cuts in greenhouse emissions and help developing nations with new finance to tackle global warming, says Beijing

Richer developed nations not doing enough to make deep cuts in greenhouse emissions and help developing nations with new finance to tackle global warming, says Beijing