Air pollution levels in most of China's cities fell during the first half of 2015, most notably for measurements of PM2.5, the particulate matter deemed most harmful to human health.

Data shows that levels of PM2.5 fell by an average of 17.1% across China’s 74 major cities in the first half of this year, according to Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area as a whole experienced a fall of 22%; the Yangtze delta a 16% reduction; and the Pearl River delta 20.5%.

“The figure of 17% shows that efforts to clean up China’s air are starting to show results, “ said Chai Fahe, fellow at China Environmental Science Research, “the direction of air pollution control is correct and the measures are targeted and of operability.”

As part of its action plan on China’s “war on pollution”, the central government allocated 11.5 billion yuan (US$1.85 billion) to deal with major air pollution issues in key regions for 2015.

New laws and regulations are delivering results, with stricter emissions standards and tougher penalties for non-compliance encouraging companies to emit less.

In the first half of this year, China has imposed punishment on 25,164 environmental violation cases, according to Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Violators were fined more than 230 million yuan (37.6 million U.S. dollars), and 740 cases of suspected environmental crime have been transferred to the police for criminal investigations.

Chen Jining, China’s Minister of Environmental Protection said that the outlook for air pollution in China remains grave.

The article is edited and translated from Chinese version of 《鼓舞人心的“17.1%”》, People's Daily.