Policy trends

2008 has been a critical year for the country to realize its bold green goals written in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), which aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and major pollutants emissions by 10 percent from the 2005 levels by 2010.

About 100 volunteers from Beijing Agriculture University and Minzu University of China work to ensure a clean environment around the Olympic Green. [China Daily]

But as the first two years, namely 2006 and 2007, saw only 2.14 and 3.16 percent reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) is feeling increased pressure to beef up its environmental goals.

So at the beginning of 2008, MEP released a collection of environmentally sound economic policies, including green insurance, green security and green trade, as a follow-up of the green credit policy introduced in 2007.

With environmental officials joining hands with economic regulators to design and implement programs, the watchdog started to proactively extend its hands into the entire economic activity chain, including production, distribution, trade and consumption, instead of the long-time practice of reacting only after a pollution problem was apparent.

Just as Pan Yue, vice minister of environmental protection, who is also the initiator of the green economic policies, has pointed out, such policies encountered obstacles as a result of local protectionism and weak legal enforcement.

The former State Environmental Protection Administration's evolution into a full-fledged MEP in March has partly solved the problem by giving the environmental watchdog a strengthened administrative role.

After taking up his new position as minister of environmental protection, setting up a law enforcement system of "iron and steel" was cited as Zhou Shengxian's top priority.

The MEP's new structure was unveiled in the latter half of 2008, with three new departments added that cover environmental quality monitoring, emissions control as well as news and education.

The move suggested an emphasis on the national control of major pollutants based on more thorough research and the precise monitoring of results.

The efforts have already paid off. Tougher environmental controls have further reduced pollution in China. The latest statistics show that emissions of COD and SO2 in the first half of 2008 dropped 2.48 and 3.96 percent respectively year on year.

In the first half of the year, the MEP requested stringent environmental standards on economic projects when the country's economy appeared at risk of overheating.

Luckily, the move has been attached with equal importance in the country's financial stimulus plan when the global economic downturn started taking its toll in China as the year drew to a close.

None of the country's 4-trillion-yuan investment package will go to the energy and resource-intensive industries or high-pollution industries, Zhang Ping, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, has vowed.

A total of 350 billion yuan, among the investment package, will be spent on improving the ecological environment and treating pollution in 2009, with a focus on improving the rural environment.