On May 27, the State Council, China's cabinet, issued regulations on assessing local governments' performance in their implementation of a nationwide action plan for air pollution control.
The Central Government is trying to tie local officials' career progressions with their work on air pollution control in a bid to provide them with more incentive to carry out this essential work.
Under the action plan, which was put into practice in September 2013, the Central Government aims to cut the density of inhalable particulate matter by at least 10 percent in major cities nationwide by 2017.
PM 2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, should fall by about 25 percent from 2012 levels in Beijing and its surrounding provincial areas by 2017, while the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions are expected to see reductions of 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
Provincial governments will be assessed annually in terms of their implementation of the plan by 2017. |