China's pollution reduction met the targets set for the 11th Five-Year Plan between 2006 and 2010, an environmental official said on Friday at a press conference.

Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Li Ganjie said emissions of sulfur dioxide and the amount of chemical oxygen demand (COD) were reduced by 14.29 percent and 12.45 percent respectively from that of 2005.

"Both the figures exceeded the target set for the 2006-2010 period which was 10 percent," Li said.

He said last year, the ministry disapproved 59 projects that failed environmental assessment, which involved a total investment of 90.4 billion yuan (13.9 billion U.S. dollars).