Beijing: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged on Sunday to make the country’s smoggy skies blue again and “work faster” to address pollution caused by the burning of coal for heat and electricity.
His words to delegates at the opening of the annual National People’s Congress highlight how public discontent has made reducing smog, the most visible of China’s environment problems, a priority for the leadership. The 10-day event got underway under a sunny blue sky, thanks to heavy gusts from the north that cleared away the unhealthy gray from the day before.
Protests have increasingly broken out in cities where residents oppose the building of chemical plants and garbage incinerators, as China’s middle class grows increasingly vocal in awareness of the dangers of pollution.
In a report to China’s ceremonial legislature, Mr Li said that “people are desperately hoping for” faster progress to improve air quality. “We will make our skies blue again,” he declared to almost 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People.
He said the government intends over the next year to step up work to upgrade coal-fired power plants to achieve ultra-low emissions and energy conservation, and prioritise the integration of renewable energy sources into the electricity grid.
Integration problems have arisen because China has added wind and solar power at a faster rate than the grid has expanded. That capacity is then wasted when grid operators choose to use traditional energy sources, including coal, over renewables.
Mr Li also said the government would ramp up efforts to deal with vehicle emissions by working faster to take old vehicles off the roads and encourage the use of clean-energy cars. Environmental laws and regulations would be strictly enforced and officials who failed to do so would be held “fully accountable,” he said, without giving details.
