(CFP Photo)

Jiangsu made stable progress in improving ecological and environmental quality in 2023, according to a government report delivered at the eighth session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress on March 26.

The coastal province secured an excellence rating for the fourth consecutive year in the national evaluation of pollution prevention and control.

Significantly, up to 92.7% of Jiangsu’s nearshore sea water was classified as good quality, 3.8 percentage points higher compared to 2022, representing the best quality since monitoring began.

For three consecutive years, the province’s air quality met Grade II standards, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 33 ug/m3. The proportion of days with good air quality in Jiangsu was 79.6%, an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the previous year.

The environmental conditions of the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake continued to improve in 2023. The water quality of the Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River has been at Grade II for six years in a row. In Taihu Lake, total phosphorus and nitrogen levels decreased by 17.5% and 9.9%, respectively, compared to the previous year.