Excellent days are over 80%! China’s air pollution control has achieved remarkable results.

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 8 (Reporter Gao Jing) During the National Day holiday this year, Gao Lei, who works in Beijing, found that his hometown had changed a lot when he went home to visit relatives. Gaoyang County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, where his hometown is located, is undergoing the transformation from coal to gas. Gao Lei saw that the small coal-fired boiler used for heating in winter at home disappeared, and the kitchen was newly connected with natural gas pipelines and installed with wall-hung boilers. The home looked much cleaner and brighter than before.

　　Replacing loose coal by changing gas and electricity is one of the important measures to control air pollution in northern China.

　　Since the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", China’s air pollution control has achieved remarkable results. According to the data from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, compared with 2015, the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at or above the prefecture level fell by 23.1% in 2019, and the proportion of excellent days in 337 cities at or above the prefecture level reached 82%.

　　In the closing year, the achievements of the blue sky defense war were even more eye-catching. From January to August this year, the average number of excellent days in 337 cities at or above the prefecture level was 86.7%, up 5 percentage points year-on-year; The concentration of PM2.5 was 31 μ g/m3, down 11.4% year-on-year. Good weather with blue sky and white clouds is becoming the norm.

　　Behind more and more blue sky is a series of "combination boxing" that China has played to control air pollution. In recent years, China’s air pollution control work has been closely focused on key areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Fenwei Plain, focusing on key pollutants such as PM2.5, focusing on key periods in autumn and winter, and key areas such as loose coal combustion and "scattered pollution" enterprises, and continuing to implement tough actions.

　　The pilot cities of clean heating in the northern region will achieve full coverage of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas and Fenwei Plain; 86% of coal-fired power units have achieved ultra-low emissions, and about 780 million tons of crude steel production capacity has been transformed into ultra-low emissions; Carry out in-depth rectification of "scattered pollution" enterprises, industrial furnaces and key industries to control volatile organic compounds; Strengthen the pollution control of diesel trucks and vigorously promote the "revolving iron"; Deepen the joint prevention and control of air pollution in key areas and strengthen the response to heavy pollution weather.

　　"The nearby village used natural gas for heating last year, which is said to be clean and warm." Gao Lei said that he believes that after coal is changed to gas, there will be more blue sky and less smog in winter.