A review on China's pollutant emissions reduction assessment

•A policy-oriented investigation on China's pollutant emissions assessment was conducted.•Temporal evaluation of controlled pollutants during variously five-year planning periods was analyzed.•Policy recommendations toward effective pollutant emissions reduction were proposed. China's initiative on pollutant emissions reduction has attracted global attentions. Sustainability responsibilities endorsed by the Chinese central government indicate that pollutant emissions reduction should be one of the top priorities. This paper aims to review the performance changes during different five-year plan stages for emission control, address the major issues and identify options for the future improvement of China's pollutant emissions reduction. The temporal changing of controlled pollutants during variously five-year planning periods was analyzed firstly, followed by policy recommendations including reforming the environmental data system to improve data reliability, perfecting a market-oriented emission trading system toward reducing social costs, promoting investment, and approaching co-benefits for policy integration.