Regional road map drawn up to combat air pollution

Beijing has drafted the first regional road map for the control and prevention of air pollution in the area that includes the capital and neighboring Tianjin and Hebei province, a senior official from the municipal environmental authority said.

The medium-and long-term plan has set harder goals for cutting major airborne pollutants emissions by 2030. That will take the region beyond the current period set in the Action Plan on Air Pollution Control and Prevention, which set goals for 2017, said Li Lixin, head of regional coordination under the Beijing Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Based on the current action plan, by 2017 the concentration of PM2.5 - airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that can penetrate the lungs and harm health - will be reduced by 25 percent in the region.