Coal Expansion and Regional Air Pollution, 1990–2001
As China’s industrial economy expanded through the 1980s and 1990s, coal remained the country’s dominant source of energy. Coal powered factories, electricity generation, urban heating, and heavy industry, making it central to continued economic growth.
But large-scale coal combustion also created a different type of environmental problem from the local water pollution associated with township industries. Sulphur dioxide released from coal combustion contributed to widespread acid rain, while smoke and other pollutants accumulated across major industrial and urban regions.
By the 1990s, acid rain had become particularly serious in parts of southern and southwestern China. The problem was regional rather than confined to individual factories. Sulphur dioxide could travel far from its original source, meaning that emissions from power plants and industrial centres could affect forests, lakes, soils, cities, and communities far downwind.
This changed the scale of environmental regulation. Controlling individual smokestacks was no longer enough. The government increasingly began regulating coal quality, total sulphur dioxide emissions, power-plant technology, and entire geographic control zones.
By the end of the 1990s, China had moved toward a regional strategy in which energy use itself, especially the sulphur content of coal, became an object of environmental regulation.
Policy Response
1987 — Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution
“中华人民共和国大气污染防治法”
China adopted its first national law specifically addressing air pollution, requiring governments to incorporate atmospheric environmental protection into economic and social development planning.
Official Chinese source:
https://www.nea.gov.cn/2011-08/19/c_131060071.htm
1995 — Revision of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution
“中华人民共和国大气污染防治法（1995年修正）”
The 1995 amendment strengthened China’s legal framework for air-pollution control. It added provisions on cleaner production, the phase-out of heavily polluting technologies and equipment, and stronger control of major atmospheric pollutants.
Official Chinese source:
https://jjjcz.mee.gov.cn/djfg/gjflfg/fl/199508/t19950801_444167.html
1998 — Acid Rain Control Zones and Sulphur Dioxide Pollution Control Zones
“酸雨控制区和二氧化硫污染控制区”
The State Council approved the creation of the “Two Control Zones,” establishing regional controls for acid rain and sulphur dioxide pollution.
The policy went beyond regulating emissions at individual factories. It prohibited new mines in coal seams containing more than 3% sulphur, required coal-washing facilities for certain higher-sulphur mines, restricted new coal-fired power plants in major urban areas, and required desulphurisation equipment for new or renovated power plants burning coal with more than 1% sulphur.
Official English source:
Acid Rain Control and the “Two Control Zones”
1998
By the 1990s, coal combustion had made sulphur dioxide one of China’s most serious air pollutants. Acid rain was especially severe in southern and southwestern China, while high sulphur-dioxide concentrations affected many industrial cities. The problem was regional rather than local: pollutants released by power plants, factories, and coal combustion could travel far beyond their original sources.
In 1998, the State Council approved the Acid Rain Control Zones and Sulphur Dioxide Pollution Control Zones, commonly known as the “Two Control Zones.” The programme covered 175 cities and regions across 27 provinces, accounting for about 11.4% of China’s land area but around 60% of national sulphur-dioxide emissions. It introduced regional targets for SO₂ reduction and tighter controls on high-sulphur coal, coal mines, power plants, and other major emission sources.
The policy marked a shift from regulating individual smokestacks to controlling air pollution across entire regions. By 2000, 98 cities within the Two Control Zones had met national SO₂ concentration standards, while authorities had closed thousands of small high-sulphur coal mines and other heavily polluting facilities.
Selected Sources
“Official Reply of the State Council Concerning Acid Rain Control Zones and Sulphur Dioxide Pollution Control Zones”
State Council / Ministry of Ecology and Environment, January 12, 1998
“The Bad Earth: China’s Growth Fouls the Land”
The Washington Post, March 29, 1996
Transboundary Acid Deposition in China, Japan, and South Korea
1990s–2001
By the 1990s, acid deposition in East Asia had become an international environmental issue rather than a purely domestic one. Sulphur dioxide emitted from coal combustion in China could travel across the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan before returning to the ground as acid deposition in South Korea and Japan.
Scientific estimates varied considerably, which itself became part of the political problem. Early studies estimated China’s contribution to total sulphur deposition in Japan anywhere from about 3.5% to 25%, while the RAINS-Asia model estimated that China contributed about 16% of sulphur deposition in South Korea and 11% in Japan. Japanese researchers produced substantially higher estimates in some studies, contributing to disagreement over responsibility.
The issue therefore became more than a question of atmospheric science. Japan and South Korea had an interest in reducing emissions originating outside their own borders, while China was being asked to bear pollution-control costs for environmental effects that were partly experienced abroad. Disagreement over how much pollution came from where made regional cooperation difficult.
This tension helped drive the creation of the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET). A preparatory phase began in 1998, and regular monitoring started in 2001, giving countries including China, Japan, and South Korea a shared framework for measuring acid deposition and comparing regional data.
Later research confirmed that transboundary pollution remained significant. A 2019 modelling study found that pollution transported from outside Japan and South Korea made a major contribution to both ambient particulate pollution and wet acid deposition in the two countries, reinforcing the need for cross-border environmental cooperation.
Selected Sources
“Development of Science and Policy Related to Acid Deposition in East Asia over 30 Years”
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9200921/
“Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia”
United Nations Environment Programme
https://www.unep.org/asia-and-pacific/restoring-clean-air/eanet