CHINA: ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION

published in B&E-14 June 2007

Black Dragon!

Genuine efforts are needed to save environment

China is racing against time. Not only to put in place its sports infrastructure before the 2008 Olympics, but also to spruce up its records on the human rights and environment protection front. With this in mind, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) recently blacklisted 11 major commercial pollutants that had dubiously emptied waste into Songhua River. The 11 companies were booked under the law of manufacturing wide ranging products from beer to dairy.Earlier this year, authorities levied a fine of $125,000 (the Chinese environmental laws stipulate a fine of up to one million yuan on industries found to cause severe water pollution) on the Jilin Petrochemical Company, when one of its subsidiaries had added large amounts of toxicants into Songhua river, jeopardising the water safety in major cities along the river. In another bold move, the SEPA recently declared the 21 km. long dragon tourist project (coming up in Xinzheng, Henan Province) as illegal and environmentally damaging. The structure is now slated to be dismantled.“China offers the greatest conundrum of our times. China’s rapid modernisation over the last 3 decades has brought millions out of poverty, but has left China with 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities (357 out of 696 cities experienced acid rain) in 2005. China should be an example to all economies, to focus solely on economic growth to the exclusion of sustainable practices only gives the illusion of economic prosperity,” said Anna Clark – President, EarthPeople, LLC, a Dallas-based consulting firm – in a chat with B&E. The Chinese authorities are not dismissing this as another western onslaught aimed at disrupting their economic growth. “There seems to be a great deal of interest in protecting the environment from the central government in China. There’s innovation around issues like green building & solar power. But China is also building a lot of coal plants. And in the province, rapid economic development and job creation take precedence over environmental protection. So the picture is very mixed,” said Marc Gunther, a senior writer at Fortune & the author of Faith & Fortune: How Compassionate Capitalism is Transforming American Business.

As the government is now starting to realise the importance of environmentally sustainable economic growth, so are the MNCs operating in the manufacturing capital of the world. “China has long represented the last frontier for MNCs to escape environmental regulations. Many took full advantage of the opportunity to pollute with reckless abandon. Result: Their reputations are now suffering! In the new world of transparency & accountability, there is no place for MNCs to hide,” adds Clark. Consequently, neither these MNCs nor Beijing can afford to brush the environmental malaise that is afflicting the nation under the carpet any more, because it is now beginning to show.