The local government plans to raise fees for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions this year and levy a fee for emissions of volatile organic compounds next year.

Under Beijing's plan, companies that break environmental laws will not qualify for bank loans, fund-raising through public offerings or value-added tax breaks starting this year.

Accountability

According to Zhai Xiaohui, an official with the Publicity Division of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, 84 items under the capital's air-pollution reduction plan have been assigned to specific officials from 42 government departments and 23 companies.

"This plan is the most effective one in recent years concerning air pollution, and it makes clear the responsibility of specific departments and persons," Zhai commented, adding that implementation of the plan will be linked to the performance evaluation system for government departments and officials.

Officials at a local-level in China have long been blamed for ignoring environmental security due to their GDP-obsessed development strategies.

"It's time to change our development model and put more focus on environmental protection," said Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing-based non-governmental organization.

Ma advises the government to evaluate local officials' performances based on their environmental records rather than on economic growth rates.

Zhai, in turn, calls for greater public involvement in the fighting against air pollution. "Considering the dire situation we face today, the public's participation is sorely needed if we are to be successful," he said.

"These last decades, we have witnessed the path Beijing has taken: from a city that is bicycle-friendly to one of traffic jams and rapidly worsening air pollution. The targets of national-and municipal-level action plans, if taken seriously, are expected to turn this situation around," said Wu Changhua, Greater China Director of the Climate Group, an independent, non-profit organization with operations in China, India, Europe and North America.

The city should also devise a plan to encourage Beijing to become a leading environmentally friendly city, through infrastructure that supports public transport, bicycles and pedestrians, Wu said.

Yu Jianhua, Director of the Division of Air Environmental Management with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, also noted that while efforts have been taken in the capital, the regions neighboring Beijing should also intensify efforts to reduce pollution.

Heavy-chemical industry bases—including iron and steel, building materials, thermal power, and cement—surround Beijing, all of these contributing significantly to the capital city's air pollution.

"Improvements in Beijing's air quality can only be realized if the overall situation in the region improves," Yu said.

On September 18, at a meeting on the prevention and control of air pollution in Beijing and its surrounding areas, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli called for efforts to combat air pollution in heavily-polluted areas surrounding the capital.

Zhang urged the local governments of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to set strict goals and shoulder the responsibility of quality of air within their jurisdiction.

The vice premier called for a system that can enable coordinated anti-pollution efforts in multiple regions with supervision and enforcement of the law, as well as a platform for sharing environmental information.

At the meeting, the MEP and the governments of six province-level regions signed an agreement on goals and responsibilities for air pollution prevention and control.

On September 23, the MEP released targets for the six regions. By 2017, the concentration of PM2.5 is to be reduced by 25 percent from 2012 levels in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei; by 20 percent in Shanxi and Shandong; and by 10 percent in Inner Mongolia.

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Energy Consumption Targets

- Coal consumption will account for less than 65 percent of total primary energy use by 2017.

- By 2015, natural gas pipeline capacity will total more than 150 billion cubic meters, covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and both the Yangtze and Pearl River delta regions.

- Total capacity of nuclear power reactors in operation will reach 50 million kw by 2017, with non-fossil fuel energy rising to 13 percent of total energy production.

- By 2017, energy consumption per 10,000 yuan ($1,634) of added industrial value will be reduced by roughly 20 percent compared to 2012 levels.

(Source: Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013-17))