Hebei province cuts coke production to curb smog

SHIJIAZHUANG -- North China's Hebei province has announced it will cut coke production by 6 million tonnes this year.

Following the slash in steel, electric power, cement and glass production, the provincial government vowed to cap its coke production within 100 million tonnes by the end of 2018.

The environment department has also launched projects to support cleaner transportation, wastewater and emission treatment, desulfuration and denitration.

The coking industry in the province emitted 233,000, 101,000 and 306,000 tonnes of dust, sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide respectively last year. Hebei aims to cut emission of the three pollutants by 57, 50 and 50 percent in three years.

In a separate campaign that started early this week, local authorities vowed to strengthen the control of heavily polluting vehicles entering the province.

Hebei witnessed a nearly 28-percent year-on-year drop in PM2.5 density from January to February. It aims for a 40-percent cut in PM2.5 density by 2020 compared to 2013 levels, through slashing excessive industrial capacity such as iron and steel as well as coke.

The province hopes to see its cities removed from the official list of China's 10 most smoggy during the 2016-2020 period.