National “12th Five-Year Plan” for Environmental Protection.

This Plan is a sectoral policy document at national level for the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). The Plan sets up a blueprint on enviromental protection goals: By 2015, the total emissions of major pollutants will significantly decreased; The environmental safety of urban and rural drinking water source areas will be effectively guaranteed, and the water quality will be significantly improved; Heavy metal pollution effectively controlled, and the prevention and control of pollution such as persistent organic pollutants, hazardous chemicals, and hazardous waste will achieved significant results; The construction and operation level of urban environmental infrastructure will have been improved; The trend of ecological environment deterioration will be reversed; The regulatory capacity for nuclear and radiation safety will be significantly increased, and the level of nuclear and radiation safety will be further improved; The environmental regulatory system will have been improved.
To achieve the above goals, key tasks are proposed, including: Promote the reduction of major pollutants; Effectively addressing prominent environmental issues on water, air, soil and ecological protection; Strengthen environmental risk prevention and control in key areas; Improve the basic public service system for environmental protection; Implement major environmental protection projects; Improve policy measures; etc.
The Plan states that China seeks around RMB3.4 trillion of investments to protect its environment within the five years, with around RMB1.5 trillion of which will be first injected into eight types of green projects, including: Major pollutants reduction, such as sewage treatment, sludge treatment, desulfurization and denitrification; Living environment improvement, such as water/air/soil quality improvement; Environmental protection in rural areas, such as nonpoint source pollution control from agriculture; Ecological preservation, such as nature reserve development and biodiversity conservation Environment risk prevention, such as prevention and control of heavy metal/hazardous chemicals pollution and persistent organic pollutants; Nuclear safety, such as nuclear safety systems/technology development and radiation monitoring; Environmental infrastructure, such as waste treatment facilities development and projects on water supply security; Environmental monitoring, such as environmental monitoring capability development and talent training.