China will order detailed punishment measures for officials in regions that miss air-quality targets this winter, refusing to accept unfavorable weather or mounting economic pressure as excuses, an environment ministry official said Monday.
China is in the fifth year of a war on pollution to reverse the environmental damage of four decades of breakneck economic growth and cut concentrations last year of hazardous particles known as PM2.5 by an average of 9.3 percent in 338 cities.
But in the key northern control area of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the concentration of such particles rose to an average of 73 micrograms per cubic meter in the last three months of the year, more than double the official 35-microgram standard.