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China to blacklist worst-polluting cities
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-24 20:33
China is to blacklist cities that fail to reach national air quality
standards and penalise them by warning off investors, state media quoted
environment officials as saying on Monday.
The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) will also control
construction projects that could worsen air pollution in the worst-offending
cities.
"The list will be announced regularly to warn cities of deteriorating air
quality," Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Lijun, SEPA's deputy director, as
telling a forum on air quality.
Zhang said there would be serious consequences for human health if emissions
of sulphur dioxide were not curbed. SEPA was drafting a programme focused on
cleaning up coal power plants, with coal used to generate more than two-thirds
of the country's power.
China's emissions of sulphur dioxide were the highest in the world last year,
causing acid rain across 30 percent of the country, the report said.
With China also the world's fastest-growing car market, SEPA official Li
Xinmin said it would also write regulations aimed at curbing auto pollution into
the country's 11th Five Year Plan, which will come into effect from 2006.
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