China is going to step up governance of pollutant emissions based on significant progress in recent years, said Ye Min, vice minister of ecology and environment, at a press conference on Thursday.

The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held a press conference on "China in the past decade" on May 12. 

Officials from the economy, science and technology, national development and reform, environment, international trade and banking sectors gave an overview of the progress and reform in China's economy and ecological conservation.

Ye Min, vice minister of ecology and environment, answered the questions and outlined the next measures the ministry will promote to the pollutant emission permit system. 

"The emission permit system is an important part of the modernization of national environmental governance system. During the past decades, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has been promoting the reform of pollutant discharge permits continuously. These reforms including the establishment of a system that incorporates the emission permit into many laws of on the atmosphere, water, soil, solids, and noise, and of more than 3.3 million stationary pollution sources across the country have all been included in the management of emission permits, and of which more than 350,000 emission permits have been issued. Besides, system integration and more strict supervision on emissions cases have been promoted, and also established a  national information online platform to offer corresponding service for pollutant emission management."

Ye said, in the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will take the pollutant emission permit system as the core, implement the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Law Enforcement and Supervision of Pollutant Discharge Permits," and strive to build a new law enforcement pattern of licensed pollutant emission, government supervision according to law, and social supervision.

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(Cover image via VCG)

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