State of the Environment, China '97 

Acid Rain

Acid Rain Result

Response

Use of lime to reduce acidification damages

The Chinese government has made great efforts and made significant progress in energy saving and consumption reduction. The energy consumption amount for every ten thousand RMB(Chinese Currency) worth of GNP has gone down year by year over the past two decades. The rate of smoke and dust removal from industrial waste gas has been reduced. In industry, the government has taken technical measures like the introduction of levying charges for pollution emissions and issuing license for discharging air pollutants.

In 1997, the rate of smoke prevention and particulate and dust control reached 88.4%, and the rate of gas emissions. The rates were 90.4% and 79.4% respectively for industries at and above the county-level, which increased by 0.4 and 4.4 percentage respectively. During the implementation of "China's Trans-century Green Project Plan", air pollution treatment and investment was increased. In 1997, 42 projects on air pollution control and prevention were completed, and there were 112 projects under construction.

In order to mitigate the acid rain, the government adopted a series of measures to help with the prevention of acid rain, such as the adoption of clean coal, energy conservation and desulphurization technologies. Some economic policies were carried out, such as levying on sulphur dioxide emission, implementing total amount control and promoting energy conservation. In past 20 years, there have been annual decreases in the amount of energy consumed per 10,000 Yuan (RMB) GNP (1 USD = 8.23 RMB).

Political goals in China

  • To establish two Control Regions
    For key regions that were affected by acid rain or SO2,China government plan for SO2 Control led Regions and Acid Rain Controlled regions.
  • To proceed to Total amount control
    In 2010 year , the total amount of discharged pollutants in industrial wastewater and the total amount of industrial waste discharged shall be lower than 1995 .Industrial emissions of dust, and discharges of COD and oil in wastewater shall be maintained at the same levels as in 1995.The capacity of treating SO2 emissions should be increased significantly.