BEIJING: China, the world's leading carbon emitter, today unveiled a multi-billion dollar plan to tackle air pollution in the country with a multi pronged strategy to curb coal and automobiles-linked pollution.

China will cut coal use, close polluters and promote cleaner production in a bid to clean up the air under the plan, which analysts say shows the government's anti-pollution resolution.

The plan costs 75 trillion yuan ($ 284.2 billion), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The government will focus on increasing clean energy supply and use, and further cut consumption of coal, which supplies most of the country's electricity needs and remains a major source of air pollution, the report said.

China aims to cut its total coal consumption to below 65 per cent of its total primary energy use by 2017, part of the country's efforts to accelerate adjusting its energy structure.

New projects set to be constructed in the Beijing-Tianjin -Hebei region and both the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions will be banned from setting up their own coal-fired power plants, it said.

China will boost supply of natural gas, coal-based substitute natural gas (SNG) and coal-bed methane, according to the plan.

By 2015, the country's newly-increased capacity of transporting natural gas via pipelines will total more than 150 billion cubic metres, covering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and both the Yangtze and Pearl River delta regions.

Under the plan, by 2017, the total capacity of China's nuclear power reactors in operation will reach 50 million kilowatts, and the share of non-fossil fuel energy will be raised to 13 per cent in overall primary energy use.

China is eyeing a roughly 20 per cent cut in energy consumption per unit of industrial value added by 2017, compared to 2012, the plan said.

The government said combined heat and power plants will gradually replace decentralised coal-fired boilers in industry clusters of chemical engineering, paper-making, dyeing and tanning for the sake of emissions cuts.

China will quicken construction of desulfurisation, denitrification and dedusting facilities in coal-fired plants, steel mills and cement plants.

The plan calls for technological upgrades at refinery enterprises to improve the quality of fuel oil, which affects vehicle emissions, the report said.

Heavier penalties will be imposed for violations of environmental, energy conservation and safety requirements, while energy conservation and environmental protection standards will be strictly implemented to support the phasing out of excess production capacity.