SHANXI Province, the country’s major coal mining hub, has pledged to cut coking capacity and annual coke output, according to a government statement late Tuesday, in line with a long-term drive to reduce toxic emissions from heavy industry.

The province is also giving coke producers until Oct. 1, 2019 to meet stringent environmental standards, according to the statement, with those missing the deadline facing the prospect of being ordered to shut down.

The statement came after all 11 cities in Shanxi were identified this year by the Central Government as “key battlefield” of the country’s anti-pollution campaign.

It has vowed to cut sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide amount by more than 20 percent by 2020 from the level in 2015, according to a separate document.

The province has been heavily relying on mining and processing of the polluting fossil fuel, with one-fifth of China’s total coke output coming from Shanxi last year.

Currently, Shanxi has around 130 million tons of coking capacity, according to analysts estimation.(SD-Agencies)