China Air Quality Newsletter

Last revised in 2000, the new Air Law is intended to respond to and reduce the severe air pollution that has plagued many Chinese cities and regions in the last several years. Though details are still being sorted out, and an English translation is not yet available, the law appears to incorporate several of the Regulatory Assistance Project’s key recommendations aimed at strengthening the law and explicitly linking air quality planning to energy planning more...

Supported by the Energy Foundation, the Clean Air Alliance China (CAAC) is launching the Bluetech Award, the first award dedicated to promote the best available international air pollution prevention and control technologies to solve the most pressing air quality challenges in China and around the world. Apply today to be a forefront member of the clean air campaign! more...

The Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC), China’s leading think-tank platform dedicated to improving China’s air quality, released the first English version of the China Air Quality Management Assessment Report (2015) in August 2015.more...

Local Air Quality Management pilots are a series of local implementation programs, conducted in the framework of the Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC). With support from the Energy Foundation (EF), the Innovation Centre for Clean-air Solutions (ICCS), Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP), Tsinghua University, and international experts have jointly provided technical support to local governments and local research institutions in a systematic way to improve the air quality management system in the five pilots, including Changzhou City, Shenzhen City, Tianjin City, Xinzhou City and Shanxi Province, and test and disseminate relevant management tools. The latest pilot took place in Shanxi Province more...

Pursuant to September 2013 requirements established by the State Council, all 113 key cities plus 225 county-level cities must complete and begin to implement their initial air quality plans by 2017. This unprecedented effort aims to reduce the severe and persistent pollution that pervades much of China. But few cities have air quality planning experience, and China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), which is responsible for oversight and approval of the local and regional plans, must have confidence in the ability of the local plans to meet nationally required goals to improve air quality. more...

The first set of partnering cities from both Asia and the US was presented on 11 August 2015 in Washington D.C. during the Cities Clean Air Partnership Workshop hosted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). To accelerate the implementation of city-level air quality management, eight cities have entered into voluntary partnerships facilitated under the CCAP’s City-to-City Cooperation (C³) Program. more...

China's power sector accounts for over 50 percent of the country's coal consumption, while the iron and steel, cement, buildings, coal-to-chemicals, and other industries consume another 40 percent. At the end of last month, a new report released by NRDC's China Coal Cap Project discussed how to use a multitude of approaches to reduce coal consumption in these sectors, as well as the carbon pollution they produce. more...