December 24, 2014, Air Quality Management Assessment Report of Jiangsu Province (hereinafter to be referred as the Report) was released in Beijing. The Report was initiated by the secretariat for Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC) and it is the first air quality management assessing report done by a third party in China. The Report systematically evaluated the air pollution status and the challenges in air pollution control work in Jiangsu. It also put forward recommendations for future improvements.
The Report was financed by the Energy Foundation, and was carried out with great support of the Jiangsu Environmental Protection Bureau and Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science. The Report analyzes the air quality status and the level of challenges in air pollution control work in the year 2013. It also evaluates Jiangsu's integrated air quality management and its efforts on policy making, establishing standards and control measures. The Report was compiled based on the use of two principle tools which are Clean Air Management Index System (Province) and Clean Air Management Measures List.
The study reveals that great challenges exist for Jiangsu province's air pollution control. The province's energy consumption, industrial structure and traffic volume put enormous pressure on its work of air pollution control. For example: Jiangsu's coal consumption of unit area is 2601 tonnes/ square kilometers, which is the third highest in China. The GDP contribution of its high-polluting industries takes 59% in the provincial GDP, which is the sixth highest in the country. And vehicle possession quantity per hundred persons is 8.17, taking the eighth place in China. All these factors would have huge impact on the improvement process of Jiangsu's air quality.
On the level of air quality management system, Jiangsu has established a department specialized in air quality management. And air quality research department was also in Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science to support the relative research work. In addition, Jiangsu has established an air pollution joint meeting mechanism so as to coordinate relevant departments and facilitate cooperation with the provincial municipalities. So in comparison with other provinces, Jiangsu's air quality management work is right at the front in the country, though it still needs to improve the air management system. The director of the Secretariat for Clean Air Alliance of China, Tonny Xie pointed out that: "Research showed to us that currently, municipalities and counties in Jiangsu are lack of staff in air quality management. It is thus required that municipalities and counties take on professional and technical personnel to ensure that the work of air quality management is efficient and continuously improved."
On the level of management measures, Jiangsu has published a series of air quality control measures without though assessing the outcomes of these measures. It is recommended that Jiangsu shall establish a mechanism for air quality attainment planning and systematically evaluate and implement the measure for air pollution reduction. This should be done according to scientific research and concrete needs in reality. Priorities should be given to controlling coal consumption, readjust industrial structure, vehicle and VOCs pollution control.
Mr. Xie also pointed out that the Jiangsu Environmental Protection Bureau, and Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science not only provided prompt and powerful support to the report compilation, they also gave very positive feedback in terms of the conclusions and suggestions in the Report. All this demonstrates that Jiangsu's open and cooperative attitude in terms of air pollution control.
Clean Air Management Index System (Province) and Clean Air Management Measures List were developed by the Secretariat for Clean Air Alliance of China (Innovation Center for Clean-Air Solutions). During their development process, great support was offered by experts from the China Academy of Environmental Planning, the China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science, US Environmental Protection Agency and The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). The Report was the first report for provincial level air quality management work, developed by CAAC based on the use of the above tools. In the year of 2015, CAAC plans to use these tools to evaluate the air quality management work in several other provinces and cities.
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