Capital to wipe out coal use by 2020

The national environmental watchdog has declared that boosting efforts to cut air pollution in northern China, especially winter smog from the burning of coal, is a mission for this year.

Among the efforts, Beijing has declared that it will wipe out coal use in its most rural areas by 2020.

As much as "60 percent of smog content is caused by coal burning in the starting phase of each smog", said Fang Li, an official with Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau.