China shake-up gives climate change responsibility to environment ministry

A sanitation worker walks past a street amid heavy smog as shop owners set off firecrackers and fireworks to pray for good business, after Spring Festival holidays, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will hand over a slew of new responsibilities for river, marine and soil pollution as well as climate change to a beefed-up environment ministry, it said on Tuesday, part of its biggest shake-up in years.

The 10-year-old Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) will be transformed into the wider-reaching Ministry for Ecological Environment, and will absorb environmental duties formerly held by the land, water and agriculture ministries, China's parliament said.