China's environmental protection industry, whose revenue totaled 2.22 trillion yuan (about $311 billion) last year, has become an important force in the green economy, said Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu at a conference held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday.

"High-quality development and high-level protection are complementary and mutually reinforcing. A high level of protection can be achieved through such means as ecological zoning control and environmental impact assessment to guard the bottom line for high-quality development," Huang added.

In this direction, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has strengthened ecological and environmental inspection and law enforcement. According to Huang, about 40,000 environmental control units have been designated nationwide to resolutely curb projects with high energy consumption. By the end of last year, the country had eliminated backward and excess capacity for about 300 million tonnes of steel, 400 million tonnes of cement and 150 million weight boxes of flat glass.

According to the ministry's data cited by chinanews.com, the number of coal-fired boilers and kilns nationwide has been reduced from nearly 500,000 to less than 100,000, reducing coal use by over 400 million tonnes. In the northern region, about 37 million rural households have completed loose coal treatment, reducing its consumption by over 70 million tonnes. Meanwhile, 1,030 gigawatts of coal-powered generating units have completed ultra-low-emission renovation, and 680 million tonnes of iron and steel production capacity have completed or are in the process of completing ultra-low-emission renovation. Furthermore, more than 30 million old and high-emission motor vehicles have been eliminated.

"The Ministry of Ecology and Environment promotes urban sewage treatment and the restoration of urban water ecosystems, and black, smelling water bodies have been basically eliminated in cities at the prefecture level and above across the country, improving the ecological environment and upgrading the quality of cities," Huang said.

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