North China's Hebei Province said it will step up efforts to curb pollutants from industrial companies this year.
By the end of this year, all industrial companies will have to meet the emissions target, the provincial government said on Sunday.
A total of 779 industrial companies, which are under intense monitoring, have met the emmissions target, it said.
By 2020, emissions by industrial companies in Hebei will be cut by 15 percent from now, the government said in a statement.
More than half of China's 10 most polluted cities are in Hebei, whose pillar industries include iron, steel, cement and glass. By 2020, officials in Hebei said they hope to see its cities removed from the official list of China's 10 most smoggy.
The government authorities are collecting pollution data on 12 industries, of iron and steel, coal, thermal power, cement, paper-making, printing, coking, glasses, pharmaceuticals, tannery, sewerage plants and incinerators.
Hebei aims for a 40-percent cut in PM2.5 (airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter) density by 2020 compared to 2013 levels, through slashing excessive industrial capacity.
