China's Business Enviroment ChangingChina pursues healthy business environment
BEIJING - The output value of China's environmental-protection industry is
26 times what it was 10 years ago, and it has become a new economic
growth point in the country, the State Economic and Trade Commission says.
Statistics show that the industry's output value amounted to 108 billion yuan
(US$13.05 billion) last year. At the end of 2000, more than 10,000
companies were engaged in the industry, employing 1.8 million people.
There is more driving this growth than a realization by China that a clean and
healthy environment is essential to sustainable national development,
particularly in the world's most populous country. The benefits from China's
hard-won membership in the World Trade Organization will be diminished
unless it meets international environmental standards.
While it is true that WTO rules will knock down the tariffs Beijing has
identified as barriers to China's economic growth, more and more countries
are setting up technical barriers. One of the most prominent is the requirement
for products to be environmentally friendly, Chen Yanping, secretary general
of the China Accreditation Committee for Environmental Management System
Certification Bodies, told the China Daily.
The products of many Chinese enterprises have been rejected by potential
trade partners because of such a barrier, says the China Association of
Environmental Protection Industry. For example, many countries require a
certificate for wood products showing that their manufacture did not harm the
sustainable development of forests. Many Chinese companies have failed to
sell their wood products because they do not have such a certificate, the
association says.
The international standard for environmental protection recognized by the
WTO is known as ISO14000. Established by the International Organization
for Standardization in 1996, it helps enterprises and organizations to set up
and improve their environmental management systems, including the
economical use of energy.
Since it was established, ISO14000 has been overwhelmingly adopted by
countries all over the world, including Japan and the United States.
Companies holding an ISO14000 certificate are inspected at least once a
year; those failing the inspection are warned and, if their standards don't
improve, lose their qualification. "If Chinese certification bodies, driven by
economic interest, give certificates to unqualified companies and thus ruin their
reputation, they will be defeated by their foreign counterparts," Chen warned.
Foreign certification bodies are eager to enter the Chinese market with
China's entry into the WTO, he said, adding that a German certification body
as well as one based in Hong Kong have been approved by Beijing. Currently
there are 21 environmental management system certification bodies in China
and more than 3,400 environmental management system auditors.
More than 900 enterprises and organizations in the country have so far been
granted the ISO14000 certificate and 1,000 more are applying for it, said
Chen.
China's environmental-protection industry was initiated in the 1970s and
developed quickly in the 1990s, when the industry's average annual growth
rate was 15-20 percent. To ensure an annual growth rate of more than 15
percent and increase the industry's output value to 200 billion yuan in 2005,
China will invest 700 billion yuan in environmental protection in the 2001-05
period.
However, although China has achieved an internationally advanced level in
some areas in environmental protection, the industry is 10-15 years behind
some developed countries, experts say.
China to protect upper Yangtze from pollution
China plans to spend nearly 40 billion yuan over the next 10 years to prevent
water pollution in the Three Gorges Area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze
River, where the world's largest water conservation project is under
construction.
According to a special plan announced on Thursday by the State
Environmental Protection Administration, the money will mainly be used to
build more than 260 wastewater treatment plants, over 200 garbage treatment
facilities, and 42 ecologic protection projects. Facilities will also be
established to collect waste from ships on the river.
By year 2010, most wastewater and garbage in the area and upstream
sections of the Yangtze will have to be treated before being discharged. All
enterprises which cause serious pollution in the upper reaches of the river will
be shut down by then.
The Three Gorges Project, which began construction in 1993, consists of a
1,983-meter-long by 185-meter-high dam and 26 power generating units with
a combined capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts. The project will be completed
in 2009. By then, it will be able to generate 84.7 billion kilowatt hours of
electricity annually and allow a fleet of more than 10,000 deadweight tons to
pass.