Beijing to keep cutting emissions throughout 2015

BEIJING - The municipal government of Beijing will keep cutting emissions in the second half of 2015 to meet the pollution reduction target this year, Beijing environmental protection bureau announced on Sunday.

Beijing set the reduction target earlier this year to cut the average density of PM2.5 (airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter)by 5 percent, the same as last year, and the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide by 6 percent.

According to Li Lixin, head of pollutant discharge control at the bureau, all coal-burning boilers will be closed in the six main districts of the capital to keep coal consumption under 15 million tonnes.

The city will also improve its energy structure, phasing out another 200,000 vehicles and closing more than 300 factories, cutting the capacity of the cement industry to 5 million tonnes this year.

Beijing failed to meet a key pollution target last year with PM2.5 down only four percent.

The capital has become increasingly smog-bound in recent years, partly due to the rise of PM2.5. The central government has ordered the city to cut PM2.5 from 2012 levels by 25 percent by 2017.