China to miss pollution goals for 2007

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China to miss pollution goals for 2007
mongabay.com
August 22, 2007

China has managed to cut emissions of sulphur dioxide, an acid-rain causing pollutant, during the first half of 2007 but is likely to miss reduction targets for the year, reports the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

SEPA said emissions of sulphur dioxide have fallen 0.88 percent to 12.63 million tons in the first half of the year. China has pledged to cut emissions of several major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010, but is already well behind targets for sulphur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD), a measure of water pollution that has increased by 0.24 percent so far this year.

SEPA attributed the fall in sulphur dioxide emissions to the installation of more desulfurizing facilities in coal-fire power plants and the closing of 5.5 megawatts of small coal-fired plants.

"While power capacity increased by 18.3 percent, the sulphur dioxide emission dropped by 5.2 percent, which offsets the emission from other industries," a SEPA official was quoted as saying on SEPA's Web site (www.sepa.gov.cn). "Although we have made some progress, the situation of cutting emissions remains grim."

Shanghai's air quality has worsened in 2007 according to SEPA.

Also Tuesday, SEPA reported that 62 percent of 585 Chinese cities regularly suffer from air pollution and have no centralized sewage treatment facilities, according to a report by the State environment watchdog. The figure was 7.3 percentage points lower than for 2005. Thirty-nine cities had "severe air pollution" and were put on agency's black list. The report further found that the ratio of quality water in the major urban areas, either for drinking or industrial use, had dropped by 7.2 percent.

In a separate statement, SEPA said heavy polluters would be blocked from filing for initial public offerings (IPOs) in China's booming stock market. Companies now must get environmental clearance from the SEPA if they want to go public.

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