Cleaning the Air: China pushes stronger pollution rules

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Despite measures taken to curb air emissions, China is still the world's top polluter. This is due to a heavy reliance on coal and fossil fuels -- and growing energy use puts extra pressure on the situation. Now China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment is rolling out new measures to improve air quality. CGTN's Liu Yang reports.

Some fresh new solutions for reducing China's carbon footprint.

As the weather turns cold, new emergency measures will mandate more clean heat usage, and curb air pollution.

China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the measures will deepen environmental protection reform, strengthen supervision of ecological and environmental law enforcement, and enhance the capability of construction in the carbon market.

LIU YOUBIN, SPOKESPERSON MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT "The goal is to cut heavy pollution days by 3 percent in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta region. Targets are set based on China's current industrial structure, energy structure, and current progress in air quality improvement."

According to analysts, carbon levels fell by 46 percent from 2005 to last year.

The numbers show the government is on target to meet its 50 percent goal by 2020, reversing rapid growth in carbon emissions.

LIU YANG "Researchers attribute China's emissions reduction to changes in the industrial structure, a decline in the share of coal used for energy, and decreasing energy usage. Experts also found that China's emissions peaked in 2013, then declined by 4.2 percent in the three years that followed."

At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to further strengthen South-South Cooperation on climate change.

Currently, 29 developing countries are using energy saving mechanisms, like solar power and photovoltaic power generation systems.

Regarding this year's Climate Change Conference, Li Gao says the issue of funding has always been at the core of negotiations.

LI GAO, DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE CHANGE DEPT. MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT "For China, we look forward to working with all parties to promote the success of the conference. One sign of the success is the completion of negotiations on the Paris Agreement, which can be implemented after 2020. We will comply with the relevant provisions of the Paris Agreement."

He says experts must recognize the vast differences between developing nations and developed ones.

Doing so will impact implementation details.

Experts say changes in industrial activities, coal use and energy efficiency are rooted in the changing structure of China's economy and long-term government policies.

Liu Yang, CGTN, Beijing.