During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the number of heavily polluted days nationwide decreased by 25%, and the environment continued to improve.

Journalists learned from today's press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment that after five years of unremitting efforts, the national PM2.5 concentration has cumulatively decreased by 20%, and the number of heavy pollution days has decreased by 25%. Various environmental monitoring indices across the country have significantly improved and continued to improve. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the national PM2.5 concentration has cumulatively decreased by 20%, the proportion of good air quality days has reached the best level since monitoring began, and the number of heavy pollution days has decreased by 25%; the proportion of surface water quality in Class I-III has increased by 8 percentage points, the main stem of the Yangtze River has maintained Class II water quality for 6 consecutive years, the main stem of the Yellow River has maintained Class II water quality for 4 consecutive years, and the water quality of Taihu Lake has reached Class III for 2 consecutive years; the proportion of good water quality in offshore waters has increased by 7.5 percentage points compared to 2020, and the total emissions of major pollutants have continued to decrease. Achieving "three obvious improvements" in air quality, water environment quality, and urban and rural living environment, and "three basic elimination" of heavy pollution weather, Class V sections, and urban black and odorous water bodies, with the people's satisfaction with the ecological environment exceeding 90% for four consecutive years, and the sense of ecological environment gain, happiness, and security further enhanced.