Monday, July 30, 2007

China Steps In To Regulate Pollution

by Stewart Douglas

The Chinese government environment department has taken action today against what it sees as the major commercial contributors to pollution nationwide.

The agency has created what is being referred to as a ‘blacklist’ of thirty of the worst offenders across the country, with sanctions being imposed for those ‘named and shamed’.

After China’s recent rapid economic growth, pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen drastically, making it a mjor contributor to global warming according to many leading international agencies.

And with growth set to continue in excess of 10% year on year, the problem can only get worse for the Chinese authorities over the coming decades, as heavy industry and the supporting infrastructure continues to grow and develop.

China, along with its smaller yet strengthening counterpart India, are amongst some of the more rapidly increasing oil-demanding nations in the world, only adding to their pollution burden as their economies develop and grow.

However, the measures introduced today designed to tackle some of the heaviest polluters are hoped to breed a new corporate culture of caring about the environment, both domestically and on an international level.

The thirty companies included on the list, ranging from steel through to food manufacturers, are banned from receiving bank loans as a result of operating above the acceptable threshold for carbon emissions and pollution levels established by the Chinese government.

With growth set to continue over the next five years, the Chinese government have set an ambitious target of reducing emissions in that time by 10%, a figure many see as unattainable to say the least.

However, with strict economic measures like those announced today, many of the countries biggest polluters will feel the heat financially, and from the international media attention they will receive.

The news comes just days after China’s admission of its inability to commit to international emissions targets ‘for the time being’.

 

 

 

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