Tongyang Canal in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The municipal bureaus of ecology and environment as well as water resources in Nantong, Jiangsu province, recently unveiled the achievements in ecological and environmental protection during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Throughout this period, Nantong carried out 9,759 pollution control projects, reducing the emissions of 79,000 metric tons of major pollutants. It met its targets for reducing nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compound emissions two years ahead of schedule.

Nantong's ecological environment quality has reached its highest level since monitoring began. The PM 2.5 concentration dropped from 34 micrograms per cubic meter in 2020 to 25 in 2024, maintaining the best record in the province for three consecutive years and becoming the first in the province to meet the World Health Organization's second-stage interim targets. As of November this year, the city's PM 2.5 concentration stood at 24.2 µg/m³, the best performance in the province.

Nantong has made significant strides in water environment management, with 91.3 percent of nearshore waters achieving excellent quality in spring and summer this year, a 5.1-percentage-point increase from the same period last year. Soil environmental quality remains stable, with effective protection for key construction land and contaminated farmland.

The city has also excelled in biodiversity conservation from 2021 to 2025, recording a total of 3,983 species and observing over 11,000 Yangtze finless porpoises, leading the province in species diversity.

The energy structure continues to improve in Nantong during the period, with the installed capacity of renewable energy reaching 17.24 million kilowatts, ranking second in the province.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), Nantong aims to achieve fundamental improvements in its ecological environment and advance the construction of a beautiful Nantong.