China reports drops in emissions but overall condn still grave

World's highest polluter China reported drops in emissions of major pollutants last year stating that overall environmental conditions still remained grave.
Summarising China's environmental conditions in 2012, an official said emissions of chemical oxygen demand, a measure of organic pollutants in water, totalled 24.237 million tonnes last year, down 3.05 per cent year on year.
Emissions of sulphur dioxide, another major pollutant, in 2012 dropped 4.52 per cent from the previous year to 21.176 million tonnes, according to the report launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Moreover, the report says China reported ammonia nitrogen emissions totalling 2.536 million tonnes and nitrogen oxide emissions totalling 23.378 million tonnes, registering year-on-year decreases of 2.62 per cent and 2.77 per cent, respectively, state run Xinhua quoted the report as saying.

Monitoring results indicate that China's overall environmental conditions in 2012 remained roughly stable, but still grave, according to ministry official, the Xinhua news report said.