New green measures 'reaping rewards'

Tougher environmental controls introduced in the first half of the year have helped reduce pollution, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian said yesterday.

The chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution, was 6.74 million tons in the January-June period, down almost 2.5 percent year on year, he said.

Similarly, the amount of sulfur dioxide in the air, mainly from coal use, was down almost 4 percent to 12.13 million tons, Zhou said.