China Announces Plan To Address Air Pollution

On December 5, 2012, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection ("MEP") announced its 12th Five-Year Plan on Air Pollution Control in Key Regions, which aims to dramatically cut emissions of pollutants in economically dynamic areas. This is China's first comprehensive pollution plan and comes at a time of growing social unrest due to worsening pollution levels.

The government has pledged 350 billion yuan (US$56 billion) to curb pollution in major cities by 2015. According to the MEP, China will reduce the intensity of fine particulate emissions (known as "PM2.5") by at least five percent in 13 major areas covering 117 cities. PM2.5 refers to fine particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter, which are particularly harmful to humans as they can travel deep into the respiratory tract to the lungs. For the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Province, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta, areas most severely affected by pollution, PM2.5 levels will be cut by at least