China identifies weather with Air Quality Index (AQI) greater than 200 as heavy pollution weather and above. At the routine press conference of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China in March 2023, Liu Bingjiang, Director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated, “From 2013 to 2022, the number of days with heavy pollution decreased by 92% nationwide. However, the achievements in improving air quality are not yet stable enough, and heavy pollution weather still occurs frequently when unfavorable meteorological conditions arise.” Therefore, heavy pollution weather remains a prominent issue in the process of improving China’s air quality.
In 2013, the State Council of China issued the “Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control” which targeted heavy pollution weather. To ensure the public health, the plan adhered to the principles of coordinating government regulation and market regulation, regional cooperation and local management, and simultaneous reduction of emissions and quality improvement. It proposed the goal of “a significant reduction in heavy pollution weather after five years of effort, and striving to gradually eliminate heavy pollution weather over the next five years or longer.”
In 2018, the State Council issued the “Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense War” which focuses on establishing and improving regional air pollution prevention and control cooperation mechanisms for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, as well as the Yangtze River Delta region. It emphasizes strengthening emergency linkage for heavy pollution weather, with cities activating emergency response measures according to their levels, implementing regional emergency linkage; formulating and improving emergency plans for heavy pollution weather, during the yellow and above heavy pollution weather warning period, emergency transportation response will be implemented for key vehicle enterprises involving the transportation of bulk materials such as steel, building materials, coking, non-ferrous, chemical, and mining. During autumn and winter, regions develop off-peak production plans for high-emission industries such as steel, construction materials, coking, casting, non-ferrous metals, and chemicals. If the enterprise fails to complete the task of governance and transformation on time, it shall be incorporated into the local off-peak production plan and implemented to stop production. In the same year, the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution” was implemented after revision, adding a special chapter requiring the establishment of a heavy pollution weather monitoring and early warning system, formulation of emergency plans for heavy pollution weather, and issuance of heavy pollution weather forecasts.
In 2019, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Emergency Emission Reduction Measures to Consolidate Measures against heavy Pollution Weather” which applies differentiated control measures to 15 key industries such as steel,coking and others based on emission performance levels A, B and C.
In 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the “Technical Guidelines for Emergency Emission Reduction Measures for Key Industries in heavy Pollution Weather (Revised Edition 2020)” expanding the scope of key industries regarding heavy pollution weather to 39, refining performance grading indicators for each key industry, strengthening emergency management for mobile pollution sources, and formulating the policy of “Implementation Rules for Performance Grading of Key Industries in heavy Pollution Weather.”
The “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Fight against Pollution Prevention and Control” issued during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period deployed efforts to eliminate heavy pollution weather as one of the three landmark battles in the deepening of the blue sky defense war during the “14th Five-Year Plan.” The “Opinions” also pointed out the need to “scientifically adjust the scope of key areas for air pollution prevention and control, establish a provincial-municipal-county level emergency plan system for heavy pollution weather, implement hierarchical management of enterprise performance in key industries, and crack down on acts of not implementing emergency emission reduction measures according to law.”
1. Major policies, regulations, and standards related to heavy pollution weather emergencies enacted in the past year
Table 1 Overview of Major Policies on Emergency Response to heavy Pollution Weather by the Central Government in the Past Year
| File Name | Release Time | Release Dept. |
|---|---|---|
| Guiding Opinions on Further Optimizing the Mechanism for Dealing with heavy Pollution Weather | December 8, 2023 The executive meeting of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment , reviewed and tentatively approved. |
– |
| Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality | November 30, 2023 | State Council |
| Technical Guidelines for Performance Grading and Emission Reduction Measures of Key Industries in heavy Pollution Weather: Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Industry (Draft for Comments) | October 27, 2023 | Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment |
| Guiding Opinions on Further Optimization of the heavy Pollution Weather forecast warning Mechanism (Draft for Comments) | October 19, 2023 | Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment |
| Action Plan for Intensifying Efforts to Eliminate heavy Pollution Weather, Prevent Ozone Pollution, and Control Pollution from Diesel Trucks | November 10, 2022 | Ministry of Ecology and Environment and fifteen other departments |
| Action Plan for Eliminating heavy Pollution Weather | November 10, 2022 | Ministry of Ecology and Environment and fifteen other departments |
1.1 Policy Requirements from the Central Government for Emergency Response to heavy Pollution Weather
Following the release of the “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Fight against Pollution Prevention and Control”, the central government successively issued the “Action Plan for Intensifying Efforts to Eliminate heavy Pollution Weather, Prevent Ozone Pollution, and Control Pollution from Diesel Trucks”, the “Action Plan for Eliminating heavy Pollution Weather” and the “Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality” to deploy emergency work in heavy pollution weather.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, along with fifteen other departments, “Action Plan for Intensifying Efforts to Eliminate heavy Pollution Weather, Prevent Ozone Pollution, and Control Pollution from Diesel Trucks” (November 10, 2022)
The plan emphasized strengthening regional air pollution prevention and control, especially in key areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain in accordance with the requirements of unified planning, standards, monitoring and pollution prevention and control measures. It also proposed the development of a three-level emergency plan system for heavy pollution weather at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, standardizing the work processes of heavy pollution weather warning, activation, response, and lifting. The plan also continuously promoted the performance grading of key industries and strengthens the standardized management of emergency emission reduction lists.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, along with fifteen other departments, “Action Plan for Eliminating heavy Pollution Weather”(November 10, 2022)
The plan requires the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to adjust the warning activation standards for key areas in coordination with relevant departments and local governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. It instructs regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Fenwei Plain, the Northeast region, and the Tian Shan northern slope urban agglomeration to revise their emergency plans for heavy pollution, clarify the responsibilities of government departments at all levels, and encourage responses to light or moderate pollution and characteristic pollutants. Regions mentioned above should continue advancing the performance grading of key industries, expanding the scope of key industries as appropriate, and optimizing performance grading indicators. Enterprises are required to develop customized operational plans and implement them effectively. Requirements for prohibiting or restricting pollutant emissions during special periods are to be legally incorporated into pollutant discharge permit.
The plan also clearly states that it is necessary to strengthen supervision during heavy pollution weather emergency response period, make full use of remote information technology measures such as automatic monitoring of pollution sources, industrial electricity consumption, vehicle flow, satellite remote sensing, and hot spot grid, strengthen the application of data analysis technology, improve supervision efficiency, and urge the implementation of heavy pollution emergency emission reduction responsibilities. If the emergency emission reduction measures for heavy pollution are not implemented inadequately, the relevant enterprises will be punished according to law, and their performance levels will be downgraded according to regulations.
The State Council, “Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality” (November 30, 2023)
The plan focuses on improving the mechanism for responding to heavy pollution weather as establishing a three-level emergency plan system at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, improving the performance grading indicators system for key industries, standardizing the management process of performance grading for enterprises, and encouraging actions to enhance performance grades. Combining with the emission permit system, the plan ensures that the emergency emission reduction list covers all air-related enterprises. Cities in the same region are to synchronize emergency response measures in accordance with regional warning information, as per laws and regulations.
In addition to officially issued documents, the central government has also released some draft policy documents for gathering public opinions as follows.
The Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, “Guiding Opinions on Further Optimization of the heavy Pollution Weather Warning Mechanism (Draft for Comments)”(October 19, 2023)
The draft stipulates that emergency responses to heavy pollution weather are only applicable to PM2.5 pollution processes. The warning for heavy pollution weather is uniformly based on the daily average concentration of PM2.5, calculated as a 24-hour continuous average (span natural days allowed). Additionally, the draft specifies detailed regulations on regional warning grading standards, regional emergency linkage mechanisms, and the revision of emergency plans for heavy pollution weather.
Table 2 Classification Standards for heavy Pollution Weather Forecast Warning
| Forecast Warning Classification Standards | Yellow Level of Forecast Warning | Orange Level of Forecast Warning | Red level of Forecast Warning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard One | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution; or PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of moderate pollution for 48 hours or more, with the possibility of short-term heavy pollution, but not meeting the conditions for a higher-level forecast warning . | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution for 48 hours; or PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of moderate pollution for 72 hours or more, with the possibility of short-term heavy pollution, but not meeting the conditions for a higher-level forecast warning . | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution for 72 hours, and PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of serious pollution for 24 hours or more. |
| Standard Two | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution for 48 hours or more, without meeting the conditions for a higher-level forecast warning . | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution for 72 hours or more, without meeting the conditions for a higher-level forecast warning . | Predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of heavy pollution for 96 hours or more, and predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches the level of serious pollution for 48 hours or more; or predicted PM2.5 daily average concentration reaches 500 micrograms per cubic meter or above. |
On December 8, 2023, at the executive meeting of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the “Guiding Opinions on Further Optimization of the Mechanism for Dealing with heavy Pollution Weather” mentioned above was reviewed and tentatively approved. The meeting emphasized that the “Guiding Opinions” once again stressed the unified warning classification standards, improved regional emergency linkage mechanisms, established technical systems for pre-judgment, in-process tracking, and post-evaluation of heavy pollution weather, and urged all regions to revise their emergency plans for heavy pollution weather as soon as possible, strengthen the evaluation of the implementation effectiveness of emergency plans, and continuously optimize and improve such work deployment.
1.2 Policy Requirements from Local Governments for Emergency Response to heavy Pollution Weather—Taking the Beijing-Tianjin Region as an Example
Local governments in various provinces and cities have successively revised and amended emergency plans for heavy pollution weather in accordance with the requirements of the central government. This report takes the emergency plan for heavy pollution weather in the Beijing-Tianjin region as an example to clarify the newly added policy requirements for this region.
The Beijing Municipal People’s Government,”Beijing Municipal Air heavy Pollution Emergency Plan (Revised in 2023)”(October 22, 2023)
The plan optimized the warning classification standards, overall lowering the threshold for early warning activation. For example, one day of level 5 heavy pollution or two days of level 4 moderate pollution meet the criteria for initiating a yellow forecast warning, two days of level 5 heavy pollution or three days of level 4 moderate pollution meet the criteria for initiating an orange forecast warning; and three days of level 5 heavy pollution with one day reaching level 6 heavy pollution meet the criteria for initiating a red forecast warning .
The plan also implements performance grading for industrial enterprises and construction sites, adopting differentiated control measures. For industrial enterprises, effective performance rating and differentiated control methods implemented in recent years should be solidified. Enterprises included in the emergency emission reduction list during heavy pollution weather are subject to differentiated emission reduction measures based on their performance grading.
The General Office of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government, “Tianjin Heavy Pollution Weather Emergency Plan” (November 18, 2023)
The revision of this plan mainly optimized warning classification standards, emphasized differentiated control, and clarified supporting requirements. The optimization of warning classification standards is similar to that of Beijing. In terms of differentiated control, the plan solidifies and improves the performance grading system for heavy pollution weather implemented in recent years for industrial enterprises. It evaluates performance grading based on the different levels of governance and emission intensity of enterprises, and formulates differentiated emergency emission reduction measures accordingly. For mobile pollution sources, differentiated control measures are implemented based on the emission standards of non-road mobile machinery and heavy-duty trucks according to different emergency response levels during the warning period.
2. Future Trends
All levels of government should actively respond to the revision of emergency plans for heavy pollution weather.
The central government’s requirements for emergency policies for heavy pollution weather are to formulate unified plans, standards, monitoring, and pollution control measures. In response to the central government’s requirements for building a three-level emergency plan system for heavy pollution weather at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, local governments at all levels should actively implement newly formulated or revised emergency plans for heavy pollution weather, standardize warning, activation, response, and lifting processes according to local conditions.
Key industry enterprises should try to promote performance grading levels and formulate tailored strategies (One factory, One Countermeasures).
In order to avoid production shutdowns or reductions caused by heavy pollution weather, key enterprises should continuously improve their performance grading by adopting more environmentally friendly production processes, using cleaner energy, and strengthening internal environmental management. At the same time, key enterprises will also formulate feasible and effective emergency emission reduction measures based on their actual situations, forming tailored strategies (One factory, One Countermeasures) to reduce environmental impacts during production processes.
