Significant results have been achieved in improving air quality across the country
Carry out the blue sky defense battle to the end
● In the past two years, the "Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense War" has been implemented, and the discharge of major pollutants has dropped significantly. Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding "2+26" cities, 11 cities in Fenwei Plain, Yangtze River Delta and other three key areas for air pollution prevention and control have reached the best level in recent 3 years
● The blue sky defense battle is the top priority of my country's pollution prevention and control. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will develop an upgraded version of the Blue Sky Defence Warfare Action Plan while improving the special inspection mechanism for the Blue Sky Defence Warfare
● More emphasis on precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, pollution control according to law, adherence to problem-oriented and goal-oriented, this is the focus of air pollution prevention work in the next five years
Our reporter Qi Jianrong
The blue sky defense battle is the top priority of my country's pollution prevention and control. To this end, the State Council specifically released the "Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defence War" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan").
According to Liu Bingjiang, director of the Atmospheric Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the emission of major pollutants has dropped significantly in the past two years since the implementation of the Action Plan. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei and surrounding "2+26" cities (hereinafter referred to as "2+26" cities) , 11 cities in the Fenwei Plain, the Yangtze River Delta and other three key areas of air pollution prevention and control, the ambient air quality in autumn and winter reached the best level in the past three years. At the same time, the cause of the heavily polluted weather in the "2+26" city has also been identified, and targeted measures have been taken.
At present, air pollution control has entered a tough period, and there are still many challenges to ensure the successful completion of the "Action Plan". The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will develop an upgraded version of the Blue Sky Defence Warfare Action Plan while improving the special inspection mechanism for the Blue Sky Defence War.
Two years of action plan
Heavy pollution days dropped by 30%
On June 24, 2018, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued "Opinions on Resolutely Fighting the Pollution Prevention and Control Campaign to Strengthen Ecological and Environmental Protection in an All-round Way", which launched the starting gun to win the battle of pollution prevention and control. On June 27, the State Council issued the Action Plan. At this point, the battle to defend the blue sky has begun.
After the release and implementation of the Action Plan, the strengthening of air pollution prevention and control has expanded from "2+26" cities to 11 cities in Fenwei Plain and the Yangtze River Delta region. According to a reporter from Legal Daily, after the strengthening of air pollution prevention and control, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has transferred tens of thousands of atmospheric environmental issues to three key places, and the places have been basically rectified.
Cao Liping, Director of the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, revealed that in 2019, key regions will strengthen supervision and designated assistance to carry out a total of 24 rounds, coordinate 20,000 people in the national ecological environment system, organize and carry out 15 special task investigations, 925,000 on-site checkpoints, assigned There were 65,000 environmental problems of various kinds, which helped solve a large number of outstanding environmental problems.
"We have carried out comprehensive autumn and winter air pollution control in three key regions for three consecutive years, refined each city's improvement goals and pollution control projects, ensured that the tasks are clear, the responsibilities are in place and reported monthly." Liu Bingjiang said that the key areas in autumn and winter The tough action was successfully completed, in which the average concentration of PM2.5 in the "2+26" city, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Fenwei Plain all decreased by more than 10% year-on-year, and the days of heavy pollution decreased by more than 30%. The ambient air quality in the three regions reached autumn and winter The best level in the past 3 years.
According to Liu Bingjiang, in 2019, the average ratio of good days in 337 cities at the prefecture level and above was 82%; the proportion of heavily polluted days was 1.7%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.1 percentage points; the PM2.5 concentration was 36 micrograms/cubic meter, no increase year-on-year . The air quality improvement in the first quarter of this year was very obvious. Among them, the national average PM2.5 concentration decreased by 14.8% year-on-year, and the proportion of good days increased by 6.6 percentage points year-on-year.
"In particular, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide reached the level of the 1990s." Liu Bingjiang said that as of the end of April, the average number of good days in 337 cities was 84.8%, up 5 percentage points year-on-year; the proportion of heavily polluted days was 2.6% , A year-on-year decrease of 1 percentage point; PM2.5 concentration was 42 micrograms per cubic meter, a year-on-year decrease of 12.5%.
Liu Bingjiang said that since the implementation of the Action Plan, the adjustment of industry, energy, transportation and land use structure has achieved results. The excess capacity reduction adopted in the previous period, the ultra-low emission transformation of coal-fired power plants, the clean-up and rectification of "scattered pollution" enterprises, coal-fired boilers Measures such as clean-up and rectification and "transit rail" have gradually reduced the total discharge of major pollutants, and have begun to exert environmental benefits.
Identify the causes of air pollution
High-intensity emissions are the main cause
"2+26" urban air pollution occurs mostly in autumn and winter, but the causes of pollution have been debated.
According to reports, in response to the causes of autumn and winter air pollution in the "2+26" city, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment organized an expert team of more than 2,000 scientists and researchers to conduct systematic research and analysis. Through the extensive work of the expert team, the causes of heavy air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the surrounding areas characterized by PM2.5 in autumn and winter have been clarified.
He Kebin, deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Pollution Control and Cooperation and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that high-intensity emissions that exceed 50% of the environmental capacity are the root cause of frequent heavy air pollution in the “2+26” city in autumn and winter. "Except for sulfur dioxide, the actual emissions of other major pollutants in the '2+26' cities exceeded 50% of the environmental capacity, and the emission intensity reached two to five times the national average, and increased by 30 in the heating season. % Of emissions."
At the same time, there are also a large number of steel, coking, glass and other enterprises in this area. The main production process is uninterruptible, so there is no way to achieve substantial emission reductions in the short term.
He Kebin pointed out that the general background of climate warming in recent years has made meteorological conditions unfavorable. This is an important cause of the weather process of heavy pollution in the autumn and winter of "2+26" cities. In the current situation where the pollutant emission intensity is relatively high, once relatively long periods of extreme conditions such as high humidity and temperature inversion occur, the environmental capacity of the entire region will be reduced by more than half, inducing a large-scale heavy pollution process.
"High concentrations of nitrogen oxides and VOCs cause high atmospheric oxidizability, which is a key factor for the rapid growth of secondary PM2.5 concentration during heavy pollution." He Kebin said, in addition, the regional characteristics of "2+26" urban air pollution are also Very prominent. During the period of heavy pollution, pollutants are mainly transmitted to Beijing along the southwest, southeast and eastward channels. The average contribution rate of regional transmission can reach 45%, and even about 70% in individual pollution processes.
According to Liu Bingjiang, after determining the causes of atmospheric pollution in the autumn and winter of the "2+26" city, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has built the largest comprehensive sky, earth, and air observation network in China to quantitatively analyze the impact of pollution emissions, meteorological conditions, and chemical conversion on atmospheric pollution and Formed a scientific consensus; carried out the "one city, one policy" resident study in the "2+26" city, and conducted research, output, and application, providing strong scientific and technological support for the continuous improvement of the air quality of the "2+26" city.
To win the blue sky defense battle
Still facing multiple challenges
In the interview, Liu Bingjiang told the "Legal Daily" reporter that by 2019, the average concentration of 261 cities that did not meet the PM2.5 standard will decline by 23.1% compared with 2015, and the number of days of heavy pollution in 337 cities across the country will drop by 36.6%. By the end of the year, the completion of the PM2.5 goal is a foregone conclusion.
As for the goal of good days ratio, Liu Bingjiang analysis said: "In five years, it will increase by 3.3 percentage points, which is equivalent to an increase of 12 days in 337 cities. In 2018, it was 79.3%, and 79% of the total target has been completed, but last year 7 provinces After three months of high temperatures, heat waves, drought and rain, extreme meteorological conditions that have not been encountered for 50 years, the ozone concentration has risen sharply, although it has made it more difficult to complete the "13th Five-Year Plan". From January to April this year, the ratio of good days increased year-on-year 5 percentage points, laying a good foundation for the remaining two-thirds of the time. As long as there are no extreme weather events, we are determined and confident to complete."
According to the requirements of the Action Plan, by 2020, the concentration of cities with PM2.5 and below-standard prefecture level and above will drop by more than 18% compared with 2015, and the air quality ratio of cities with prefecture level and above will reach 80%, with severe pollution and above The ratio of days is more than 25% lower than in 2015.
Comparing this requirement, Liu Bingjiang pointed out that at present, air pollution control has entered a tough period. To ensure the successful conclusion of the three-year action plan to win the blue sky defense battle, there are still many challenges. These include PM2.5 concentration is still relatively high, ozone pollution is gradually emerging, and structural adjustment is more difficult.
Liu Bingjiang said that although the PM2.5 concentration in the country has generally declined this year, the PM2.5 concentration in "2+26" cities is still relatively high, reaching 57 micrograms per cubic meter in 2019. "During the Spring Festival this year, two heavy pollution processes around Beijing are typical cases." Liu Bingjiang said that the gradual increase in ozone concentration has become an important factor influencing the number of good days after PM2.5. From July to September of last year, the meteorological conditions of high temperature and less rain in many provinces across the country led to a significant increase in ozone concentration year-on-year, and the number of days exceeding the standard increased significantly. If similar meteorological conditions reappear this summer, it will have a greater impact on achieving the goal of a good number of days.
At the same time, heavy pollution in autumn and winter weather is still high. According to Liu Bingjiang, from January to February 2019, due to adverse weather conditions, the PM2.5 concentration in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas and Fenwei Plain increased by 24.1% and 26.6% year-on-year respectively.
"This autumn and winter, many cities in Inner Mongolia and Northeast China have experienced heavy pollution for a long time, and Baotou, Harbin, and even PM2.5'burst table'; during the Spring Festival, two heavy pollution processes have occurred in Beijing and surrounding cities. All shows that the task of air pollution control is still a long way to go." Liu Bingjiang said.
"With the deepening of air pollution control work, the terminal control space and emission reduction potential are getting smaller and smaller. In the future, the focus of work will gradually shift to structural optimization and adjustment. At present, China’s industrial structure is heavily focused, energy structure is coal, transportation structure is highway, and land is used. Problems such as extensive structure have not been fundamentally changed." Liu Bingjiang said that these structural optimization and adjustment tasks are important measures to promote high-quality development, stimulate effective investment, fill shortcomings, and achieve a win-win economic environment, but specific to each project. It is "difficult to eat".
Improve the special inspection mechanism
More prominent treatment of pollution according to law
Liu Bingjiang's "difficult bite" is actually the difficulty in accomplishing the goals and tasks specified in the Action Plan.
Liu Bingjiang said that in order to implement the "State Council's Notice on Printing and Distributing the Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defence Warfare" and reduce the impact of ozone pollution in summer, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will organize the supervision and assistance work for the prevention and control of ozone pollution in summer and comprehensively promote the effectiveness of volatile organic compounds. Governance and precise control.
"In recent years, the problem of ozone pollution has become prominent, and it has become an important factor affecting the ambient air quality of the summer in the country, and volatile organic compounds are important precursors for the formation of ozone and fine particulate matter." According to Liu Bingjiang, to ensure the prevention and control of ozone pollution in summer The tasks and measures have come to fruition. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will conduct special surveys on some cities in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Henan to understand the prevention and control of ozone pollution in cities in summer.
From June onwards, we will focus on areas such as “2+26”, Fenwei Plain, the border areas of Jiangsu, Anhui, Luyu, the Yangtze River Delta, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. According to the accuracy of questions, time, location, and objects, The principle of precise measures, for cities with large emissions of volatile organic compounds, pressure to prevent and control ozone pollution, and lagging behind progress in improving ambient air quality, carry out supervision and support for ozone pollution prevention and control in summer, and guide and assist relevant governments and enterprises to implement the management of volatile organic compounds Emissions reduction tasks.
Liu Bingjiang said, focusing on petrochemical, chemical, industrial coating, packaging and printing, oil storage and transportation, etc., check whether the pollution control facilities are built according to the requirements, whether they are in normal operation and maintenance, whether the requirements for unorganized management and control are in place, and whether the treatment effect meets the requirements , Timely guidance to help enterprises to establish and reform, and put forward reasonable rectification suggestions.
In order to complete the "Action Plan", the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to promote the optimization and adjustment of the four major structures, promote the coordinated management of PM2.5 and ozone, implement the vigorous management of volatile organic compounds in summer and the comprehensive treatment of atmospheric pollution in autumn and winter, and actively respond to heavy pollution weather. Improve the special inspection mechanism for the blue sky defense battle. At the same time, more prominent treatment of pollution in accordance with law.
"Since the start of the Blue Sky Defence War, the national air quality improvement has achieved significant results, but these goals are staged, and it will be a long time before the PM2.5 concentration in all cities across the country reaches the 35 microgram/cubic meter standard." Liu Bingjiang It is said that the Blue Sky Defence War will continue, and an upgraded version of the Blue Sky Defence War Action Plan is also being formulated. Including the “14th Five-Year Plan” special plan for air pollution prevention and control, which will be more focused on precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and legal pollution control. Focus.