BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The initiative to use clean energy for winter heating in northern China has been pushed forward in an active yet prudent manner, a government minister said Tuesday.

Ecology and Environment Minister Li Ganjie told a bi-monthly legislative session that the initiative was part of the effort to optimize the energy consumption mix to control air pollution in northern China.

The minister made the statement before the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as it began deliberating a State Council feedback report on the government response to the legislature's inspection report and comments.

The top legislature made inspecting the enforcement of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law a priority of its supervision work in 2018.

Clean-energy winter heating is key in China's battle for blue skies. Excessive burning of coal, especially by small household furnaces, has been blamed for air pollution in northern China.

The State Council report said that governments had only pushed for replacing coal with natural gas for winter heating when the local gas supply was guaranteed.

The Ministry of Finance earmarked 13.92 billion yuan (2 billion U.S. dollars) for addressing the issue of small household furnaces in parts of northern China, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the report said.

In the meantime, measures have been taken by various government ministries to help residents switch to clean energy.