The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently released the "Bulletin on the Emission Indicators of Major Pollutants in Various Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities Directly Under the Central Government in the First Half of 2014" (hereinafter referred to as the "Bulletin").
 
The results of the "Bulletin" indicate that in the first half of 2014, the total chemical oxygen demand emissions nationwide were 11.722 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.26%; the total ammonia nitrogen emissions were 1.225 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.67%; the total sulfur dioxide emissions were 10.372 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.87%; and the total nitrogen oxides emissions were 10.995 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.82%. Among them, the reduction of nitrogen oxides achieved the best results since the 12th Five-Year Plan, laying a good foundation for the comprehensive completion of the reduction targets of the 12th Five-Year Plan.
 
The "Bulletin" also shows that in the first half of 2014, the newly added daily sewage treatment capacity in urban areas (including towns and industrial parks) was 5.02 million tons, and 453 key projects in papermaking, dyeing, and other industries implemented deep treatment and reuse of wastewater; 120 million kilowatts of new thermal power denitrification units were added, with a cumulative denitrification installed capacity of 550 million kilowatts, accounting for 62.5% of the total installed capacity of thermal power; 28.3 million kilowatts of existing thermal power units underwent capacity expansion and transformation of desulfurization facilities; 7.5 million kilowatts of thermal power units removed desulfurization facility flue gas bypass, with a cumulative total of 475 million kilowatts of desulfurization units operating without bypass; 6,950 square meters of new flue gas desulfurization facilities were added to sintering machines, with a cumulative desulfurization area of 94,000 square meters, accounting for 69% of the total area of sintering machines; new denitrification facilities were built for 100 million tons of cement clinker production lines, with a cumulative denitrification capacity of 820 million tons, accounting for 57% of the national total capacity of new dry process; 3,512 large-scale livestock and poultry farms improved waste treatment and resource utilization facilities, with chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen removal efficiencies increased by 6 and 26 percentage points, respectively; more than 2.2 million yellow label and old vehicles were eliminated, and the elimination of backward production capacities in papermaking, dyeing, electricity, steel, cement, and other industries continued to be promoted.