China -- Admitted Environmental Disaster
Earlier this week, the Chinese government came out with an environmental white paper that whitewashes virtually nothing; it flat out admits China's environment is terrible and is in immediate need of repair. The China Confidential Blog has an excellent post on this, entitled, "$200 Billion Annual Pollution Problem: Government White Paper Examines China's Enviro-Nightmare."
For other perspectives on this environmental white paper, check out the Blue Skies China Blog's post entitled, "Environmental protection industry makes US$4.9 billion in 2004: Chinese government," China Challenges post, entitled, "Pollution Cuts GDP Growth by 10%" and China CSR's [Corporate Social Responsibility] post, entitled, "Chinese White Paper Lists Environmental Accomplishment."
Comments (4)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endCraig Maginness - June 13, 2006 5:21 PM
This white paper is an excellent first step -- as always, thanks for publicizing it via your excellent blog. In China publicly recognizing a problem is certainly a precurser to taking action. But ala the point made in your earlier post re Al Gore's inconvenient use of apples to oranges comparisons, hopefully this will not lead to only talk and policy with no enforcement.
The white paper seems to extol the virtue of China's expenditures on environmental clean-up, but if one does the math, they are spending only about 10% of what is necessary to address the problem and the problem seems to be worsening exponentially.
On the upside for American business, China presents a tremendous opportunity for the export of environmental engineering and remediation technology. We could do the whole world a favor by accelerating growth in this market segment.
Craig Maginness
ExIn Global Strategies
China Law Blog - June 13, 2006 5:32 PM
I agree with everything you are saying, but here is something I don't quite understand. My firm has represented countless companies of every sort going into or doing business with China. Manufacturing companies, service companies, trading companies, medical companies, educational companies, technology companies, not for profits... the list is nearly endless. But, we have never been called on to represent any environmental companies, which has always stricken me as pretty weird, until the other day when a Chinese consultant I know and respect said that everyone for years has been talking about the opportunities for environmental companies to make a fortune in China but he has yet to see any real inroads by American or European environmental companies there and he thinks that it is because when you get right down to it, the Chinese are either unwilling to pay or simply lacking the kinds of funds needed to use state of the art technologies for cleaning up. Or, it is also possible that things are so bad, they can and should forget about state of the art and just start with the basics. Anyway, of all the business sectors, I am starting to think there is a bigger disconnect between words and reality and need and fulfillment in the environmental arena than in any other.
I would love to hear what others have experienced in this area.
Steven - June 13, 2006 8:48 PM
I think China has invested a lot of money in the pollution control and environment related projects.
But with fast economical development, and inefficient management, the pollution generated is still more than the projects can process. For example, Dianchi Lake was a famous tourist place but it suffers very severe pollution problem. Government invested 4.8 billion RMB to take care of it, but the pollution is still a huge problem there.
With the construction of Three Gorge Dam, government invested a lot of pollution-control projects along the Yangtz River. But pollution still exists.
The biggest problem is the management. GDP is the important index to judge a local officials' performance. Local officials trend to ignore the pollution origin. This is the key problem. That's why the "green GDP" concept came out last year. But it was reported that it's difficult to calculate "green GDP", so the index is not practical even it is a good thing.
But there is a bright point in China's environment: Forestation. China has some very large forestation projects. One is in Yangtz River area. It is a project for Three Gorge Dam construction. Deforestation has been prohibited along the river and a lot of trees were planted in recent 10 years. The recent survey indicates that the soil erosion has been improved a lot. Much less sand than expected was deposited in the three gorge reservior. Another report said the forest coverage has been increased at fast pace and desert area was now shrinking in China. I am not a fan of Premier Zhu Rongji, but he did very good job in Forestation.
To improve the environment in China, China needs more investment, more technology (especially clean coal-burning technology), better management. It is a long way to go.
GreenFudge - September 2, 2009 11:31 AM
China is a responsible country. They have got a lot to do for saving the environment of this world.
They are taking steps in this and I hope they prove out to be successful.