The action plan, published on the country’s official website on Thursday, detailed China’s emissions targets and the actions it would take to meet these.
In short, it aims to increase its use of alternative energy sources and reduce its coal-burning capacity as well as close down some of the heaviest polluting factories.
The State Council said the country's air pollution situation was grim and was "harming people's health and affecting social harmony and stability”
The new initiative identifies the biggest offender as coal, which fires more than two-thirds of China's power plants, and targets a 5% reduction in that capacity over the next four years -- an ambitious move for a country with a growing demand for power and a heavy reliance on coal.
Under the new measures, three of the country's largest cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where governments have been under pressure to curb growing pollution levels, will not be allowed to build new coal-fired power plants for new projects.
The rule extends to the region surrounding Beijing, the Yangtze Delta region near Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, the State Council said.
The action plan calls for the density of PM2.5 fine particulate matter in Beijing to drop by 25% by 2017 from 2012 levels and by at least 10% in all other cities.
The plan also aims to raise the share of non-fossil fuel energy such as solar and wind power to from the current 9.1% to 13% by 2017.
Environmental groups have applauded the ambition of the targets. But some environmental groups have expressed doubts about how successfully they will be implemented, with Greenpeace labeling the plan “ambitious”
