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China will complete the world's largest clean and efficient coal power system before 2020, according to a seminar on the development of clean coal power and its environmental impact held in Beijing on Sept. 19.

Statistics from China Electricity Council showed that installed power-generating capacity of the country has reached 1,650 GW by the end of 2016, 57.3% of which is from coal-fired plants.

According to Liu Bingjiang, head of the pollutants emission department at China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, emissions of pollutants by the coal-power industry accounted for about half of the country's total emissions 10 years ago.

Now, sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide emissions have been lowered to the million-ton level from its peak ten-million-ton level after a dozen years of endeavors, making the coal-power industry a sector with the highest emissions compliance.

The coal-fired industry is the first industry in China to carry out renovations to achieve ultra-low emissions. By the end of first half of 2017, the country has finished renovation for 570 GW of installed coal-fired capacity, which accounted for 60% of the total amount, said Liu, adding that the world's largest clean and efficient coal power system will be established in China in 2020.

It is learnt that non-power industries now have a bigger share in terms of emissions of pollutants, while the coal-fired industry cut its emissions.

The management of non-power sectors still lags behind the power industry, and emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, as well as smoke and dust, accounted for more than 3/4 of the national total, Liu introduced.

In addition, the emission of volatile organic compounds, which mostly come from petrochemicals, chemical engineering, industrial coatings, and packaging industries, has not been controlled effectively.

"We will take air pollution control in non-power industries as a major task, and accelerate the treatment of pollutants from industrial furnaces and coal-fired boilers," Liu stressed.