As air pollution in China has triggered more concerns in recent years, many local governments formally promised a blue sky by reducing emissions in their government report, the Beijing Times reported Thursday.

Up to Wednesday, 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have written air pollution control in their reports. Some even clarified the specific target for 2016 and for 2016 to 2020.

Those governments also reviewed their work on air pollution in the past. Data showed that most of the regions have achieved the expected goals.

Though progress has been made, the residents are far from satisfied with the general air quality.

Wang Jingwei, deputy of the Tianjin People's Congress, explained that it would be a long course since it will take a long time to transform the coal-dominated energy structure and eliminate vehicle exhausts.

Local governments, therefore, placed more priorities on air pollution.

Hebei Governor Zhang Qingwei, for instance, listed environment as well as air and water pollution as one of the province’s five biggest challenges facing economic transition.

Eleven of the 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions even gave a concrete target number covering the PM 2.5 concentration and other indexes. Such examples include Hebei, Shaanxi, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin.

They also planned to increase their budget for pollution control, with Henan raising its budget to 1 billion yuan, and Beijing to 16.5 billion yuan.

Analysts believed that though local governments have strong determination, pollution control is not easy as industrial and energy structures, air-borne dust caused by construction sites and vehicle emissions all stand in the way.

In order to strive for blue skies in the future, local governments also plan to adjust energy consumption patterns, reduce industrial pollution and dust, and strengthen the management of vehicle emissions.

In addition, more governments realized that they need to collaborate with their neighbors on reducing emissions.

Zhao Chuanfeng, a scholar from Beijing Normal University, said that 2016 to 2020 will be a key period for smog treatment. He added that different regions should take targeted measures based on their own conditions.