China's serious air pollution problem has taken its toll on many aspects of Chinese society and the central government, serious in its endeavor to effectively address the problem, will soon release new anti-pollution policies.

Details of the new policies have not been presented but analysts say they will mainly focus on reducing the use of coal by shifting to alternative sources of energy, phasing out facilities and practices that contribute to air pollution, and actively promoting alternatives that result in cleaner production.

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These new policies will be the most drastic move of the government since the release of the Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan five months back. According to a senior environment official, the taxation, investment and pricing will be used as leverage by China in the policy implementation.

With the strict implementation of the said policies, China by 2017 will stand to reduce the density of particulates in the air in its major cities by not less than 10%.

In Beijing and nearby areas, the target is to reduce the area's PM2.5 in 2012 by 25 percent. PM2.5 is the main indicator of air pollution that refers to ambient pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, minute enough to enter even the smallest airways.

"For a document (action plan) to be carried through, it must be followed with detailed and conscientious measures," according to Zhai. He added that their ministry has worked in collaboration with some other government ministries to come up with 22 policies for implementation soon.

The 22 proposed policies will be up for State Council deliberation and approval in the coming days.  Ten of the policies are economic in nature while 6 are management related, Zhai added.

"After their approval, we'll go all out to carry them out," Zhai said during a news conference on Tuesday at the information office of the State Council.

Xia Guang, head of the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy commented that the number of economy related policies among the 22 speaks of the government's preference to now resort to economic instruments and means to address the country's air pollution problem.  This change in strategy is expected to bring about good results, Xia said.

Xia added that by allowing enterprises to voluntarily implement their chosen environment-friendly modifications to their operations, a reduction in social cost to save the environment is possible.

Adjustments in the cost of natural resources due to their scarcity will change the way people will view and value natural resources which will spare the government from putting great effort in raising people's awareness about environment protection.

Xia said that the new policies also involve the country's financial sector, which will be tasked to implement the "green finance" concept that disallows the issuance of loans to companies that contribute to air pollution.