Minister: Nation meets pollution targets

China has achieved the pollution-reduction targets for major pollutants outlined in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), six months ahead of schedule, Environment Minister Chen Jining said on Sunday. Nonetheless, a substantial improvement of the environment will only be possible if pollution is reduced by a further 30 to 50 percent, he said.

According to Chen, by 2014 discharge of sulfur dioxide had dropped by 12.9 percent from 2010 levels, and chemical oxygen demand, a measure of organic pollutants in water, dropped 10.1 percent. Emissions of ammonia nitrogen had also declined by 9.8 percent, and nitrogen oxide dropped 8.6 percent.

Discharges of the four major pollutants continued to drop in the first half of this year, the minister said.