During an online interview with the China Internet Information Center (www.china.org.cn) on September 4, Chief of Beijing-based Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) Ma Jun called on the public to keep enterprises' emissions within limits by exerting their right of purchasing to protect the environment.

 

Ma said the IPE was cooperating with 20 environmental protection organizations to develop a "Green Choice Proposal." Based on official statistics, people often recognize that although some enterprises produced quality products, they also produced emissions that exceeded standards. People are able to "vote" for the enterprises within emissions standards by purchasing their products, and vote against them by boycotting.

 

In Ma's opinion, "Greece Choice" will aid in the development of China's market economy. China's middle class is rising, and if they join together to purchase goods only from enterprises that are environmentally friendly, it will greatly accelerate environmental protection and pollution prevention.

 

It's hard to popularize the plan of "Green Choice," but Ma is confident. "At present customers mainly consider food safety, quality, and price. They may think what behind the products has nothing to do with them directly. But actually every factory pollutes the environment, which definitely affects our living quality. So, I wish to persuade more and more people to shop for 'Green Choice.'"

 

According to Shanghai Securities News on August 28, IPE blacklisted around 100 multinational corporations for their illegal emissions condemned as adverse to China's development. The list includes major players such as Pepsi, GM and 3M.

 

As for the list, Ma said IPE doesn't aim at any specific group. From 2004 until now, all the local corporations and multinationals that violated the national or local environmental laws and regulations were selected for the investigation. IPE wanted to tell the multinationals that China has its environmental criteria and isn't a refuse dump for arbitrary pollutants.

 

Currently, around 40 enterprises are consulting with the IPE on reaching steady and standard emissions criteria by reforming, mostly multinationals. Ma said they welcomed the involvement of local environmental protections groups to assure of a normal auditing process. Three enterprises have carried out the auditing. Among them, one Panasonic battery corporation in Shanghai has innovated their water pollution prevention equipment twice and finally passed the auditing from the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences. Many others are still underway.

 

(China.org.cn by Zhou Jing September 5, 2007)