The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the Catalogue of Highly Polluted Fuels

　　CCTV News:According to the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in order to improve the quality of urban atmospheric environment, the Ministry of Environmental Protection recently issued the Catalogue of Highly Polluted Fuels (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue) in accordance with the provisions of Article 38 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was revised and passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on August 29th, 2015.

　　According to the Catalogue, the fuels referred to in the catalogue are fuels that need to be strengthened according to factors such as product quality, combustion mode and environmental impact. The catalogue stipulates conventional fuels such as coal and its products (including raw coal, loose coal, coal gangue, slime, coal water slurry, briquette, coke, blue charcoal, etc.) and oil used in production and life. Industrial waste and garbage, agricultural and forestry residues, charcoal used in catering industry and other auxiliary fuels are not within the scope of catalogue control.

　　The Catalogue makes it clear that according to the strict degree of control, the fuel combinations prohibited from burning in the no-burn zone are divided into Class I (general), Class II (strict) and Class III (strict). For petroleum coke, oil shale, crude oil, heavy oil, residual oil and coal tar, due to their serious pollution to the urban atmospheric environment after direct combustion, Class I, Class II and Class ш in the catalogue are all included in the control scope. For coal and its products, considering that coal is still the main energy consumption in China’s cities at present, coal and its products are divided into three categories with different degrees of strictness for control. For biomass briquette, the burning mode of biomass briquette is regulated only under the strictest control requirements of class ш, that is, it must be burned in a special boiler for biomass briquette equipped with high-efficiency dust removal facilities such as bag filter.

　　The Catalogue emphasizes that according to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, the catalogue of highly polluting fuels is determined by the competent department of environmental protection in the State Council. This catalogue is only applicable to the management of the no-burn zone of highly polluting fuels designated by the urban people’s government according to law, and it is not used as the no-burn management or other management basis for fuels outside the no-burn zone.

　　The Catalogue requires that the people’s government of a city, according to the requirements for improving the quality of the atmospheric environment, the energy consumption structure and the economic affordability, demarcate the no-burn zone in the urban area in the principle of seeking truth from facts, and choose one of them according to local conditions, so as to make steady progress according to its capabilities. In the management of the no-burn zone, the people’s government of the city should give full play to the role of the catalogue, start with improving the urban energy structure, and vigorously promote the production and use of clean energy. And gradually expand the area of the no-burn zone when conditions permit.

　　In the next step, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will guide cities to do a good job in revising and formulating the delineation and management regulations of high-pollution fuel no-burn zones, and give full play to the role of the Catalogue in improving the quality of urban atmospheric environment.