China has made some progress in reducing pollutant emissions during the first half of this year, but still faces a severe situation in meeting its green target.
That's according to a recently-published state report which showed that discharges of sulphur dioxide dropped by almost 1 percent in the first six months of this year.
However the emission of chemical oxygen demand, or COD, a measure of water pollution, rose by nearly a quarter of a percent - although this is still a big drop from a growth of 3.7 percent last year.
Zhao Hualin is an official with the State Administration of Environment Protection.
"The discharge of sulfur dioxide dropped for the first time, thanks to the installation of more desulfurizing facilities in power plants. The growth rate of COD emissions slowed down evidently, which shows progress in reducing COD water pollutant discharge."
Despite the progress, Zhao warned that China still faces a tough situation in meeting its goal of cutting the emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.
In the second half of this year, the government will target the coal-fired power industry, aiming to reduce air pollutants discharged by the petrol-chemical, iron and steel and concrete industries.
Meanwhile, the country will also try to reduce water pollutant emissions in the chemical, brewing and printing industries, especially paper mills.
