Since 2014, the China Environmental Management Program has supported local air quality management pilots projects in Tianjin Municipality (Beijing-Heibi-Tianjin), Shenzhen Municipality, Changzhou Municipality, Shangxi Province, and Xinzhou Municipality. The Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Tsinghua University, and Clean Air Alliance of China (CAAC) provide technical support to these local pilots. During Phase I of the project, the team helped these five pilots develop a local Air Quality Management Evaluation Report (2014), a local emissions inventories, and a co-control measures list. Phase I of the project also provided trainings for local officials, engineers, and technical experts at regulated enterprises on air quality management principles to build their capacity for better implementation of China’s national air pollution prevention and control plans.

In 2016, local pilots will carry out Phase II projects, including the 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) for air pollution prevention and control and local city air quality attainment plans. Phase II projects will continue centering on the core requirements of urban air quality standards attainment and carrying out pilot studies on the time limit of standards attainment, phased improvement objectives, measures and tasks for attaining standards, and co-control measures.

On May 16, the CAEP launched the Phase II project in Beijing, which is on the 13th FYP for air pollution prevention and control and will develop air quality attainment plan guidance. Representatives from the local environmental academies of Changzhou, Zhenzhen, Xinzhou, and Shanxi Province presented their air pollution status and control progress, preliminary thoughts on the local 13th FYP, and air quality attainment plans and guidelines. CAAC also provided recommendations on adopting co-control measures in the 13th FYP.

The project will leverage national policy impacts by integrating local experiences on co-control measures into MEP’s 13th FYP of air pollution prevention and control and guidelines on air quality attainment planning. This will help local enforcement of air quality standards, contribute to national policies, and provide clean air examples for other cities to control both air pollutants and greenhouse gases.