Firm path to green economy

But many officials argue that China has actually taken the downturn as an opportunity to restructure its industries and benefit the environment.

Zhang Lijun, vice minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said during the country's top legislative and advisory meetings in March that China's measures to tackle the crisis were not only about ensuring 8-percent growth.

They were also intended to promote domestic consumption and economic restructuring, including eliminating polluting, inefficient and wasteful factories, he said.

When China set guidelines for its stimulus plan in November, the government had made it clear that not all the investment would go into projects that would worsen the problems of overcapacity, high energy use and high emissions levels.

Instead, of the 230 billion yuan central government spending that had already been distributed, 10 percent had been directly invested in energy saving, pollution reduction and environmental protection projects, said Han Yongwen, secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC), during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in late April. The NDRC is China's top planning agency.

"The stimulus plan did not delay China's process of energy conservation and emission reduction. Actually, it was strengthened with the package," Zhao Jiarong, director of the environment and resource department of the NDRC, told Xinhua during an interview early this month.

Meanwhile, China had also emphasized eliminating obsolete capacity as part of its support plans for 10 major industries released over the past few months. Those industries included textiles, non-ferrous metals and petrochemicals.

In 2009 alone, China plans to shut down 15 million kilowatts of small thermal-power generators and eliminate obsolete capacity in iron, steel and paper production this year by 10 million tonnes, 6 million tonnes and 500,000 tonnes, respectively, said the NDRC earlier this month.

As a result, China's energy intensity witnessed a year-on-year drop of 2.89 percent in the first quarter, according to the NDRC.

For Beijing, despite the annual sandstorm season, the city saw 23 "blue sky" days in April, the best figure for that month since 2000, according to Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. On a "blue sky" day, air quality stays at or above level 2, indicating "fairly good" air.

A pollution index below 50 is classified as "excellent", from 51 to100 is "fairly good", 101 to 200 "slightly polluted", 201 to 300 "poor", and over 301 "hazardous", according to the bureau.