China 'not optimistic' on emissions cuts

BEIJING (AP) - China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, faces serious challenges to its efforts to cut environmental pollution, with one key pollutant increasing for the first time in three years, a senior Chinese official said Thursday.

Sulfur dioxide emissions increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, the first increase since 2007, Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, told a news conference.

"This sounded the alarm for our emissions reduction work and showed that the situation is not very optimistic," he said.

Zhang attributed the sulfur dioxide rise to a too-rapid increase in the manufacturing of energy-intensive industrial products - those made in coal-fired factories like cement, aluminum and steel - as China continues its robust rebound from the global downturn. Industrial output was up 19 percent in the first quarter over the same period last year as the country's economy expanded.

In addition, less attention to pollution issues by local government and companies and a drought in southwestern China were also factors, he said.

"All of these have brought new pressures to our pollution reduction work," he said.

Sulfur dioxide is one of the four key pollutants that China routinely measures, along with nitrogen dioxide, inhalable particles and chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution.

Zhang said the ministry's efforts have yielded some interim progress.

Overall, sulfur dioxide and COD dropped by 13.14 percent and 9.66 percent, respectively, between 2005 and 2008, he said.