Nantong's environmental protection efforts pay off

Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province was recently rated outstanding for its pollution prevention and control efforts by provincial authorities.

In 2022, the city's concentration of PM 2.5 was 25.9 micrograms per cubic meter, down 13.3 percent year-on-year and the lowest among cities in Jiangsu.

Days with good air quality accounted for 80.8 percent of all days last year, while the proportion of coastal waters with good water quality was 87.2 percent, 25.2 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

All these achievements can be attributed to the efforts made by local authorities over the past year.

Nantong has promoted the intelligent and digital transformation of local industrial enterprises in recent years. Eight local enterprises have been listed among the first group of demonstration intelligent manufacturing factories in Jiangsu, while 13 have become national environmentally friendly factories.

The city also rolled out more than 2,800 projects to prevent and treat atmospheric, air and soil pollution and reduce pollutant discharge.

Seventeen farmland drainage and irrigation systems and 68 farming ponds covering an area of 200 mu (53.3 hectares) in the city have been made eco-friendly.

Nantong has also released its plan for the construction of environmental infrastructure from 2021 to 2025. The city is expected to invest about 16.5 billion yuan ($2.44 billion) into 739 projects.