Financial Times
August 11,2013
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China plans to accelerate investment in technology to save energy and tackle the dire pollution blamed for a series of health crises that have generated widespread public anger.
The government has been increasingly alarmed by social unrest caused by environmental disasters and threats to public health, often the result of the country’s breakneck industrial expansion and mass migration to new cities.
China is already investing Rmb2.3tn ($375bn) in energy savings and emissions reduction in the five years through to 2015, state media have said. Smog over northern cities in January generated a public outcry, as did the discovery in March of thousands of rotting pig carcases in the Huangpu river, which supplies most of Shanghai’s drinking water.
The country’s cabinet, the State Council, said on Sunday that environmental protection would be elevated to a “pillar industry” that would receive government support in the form of tax breaks and subsidies. The State Council said the new plan would ensure the environmental protection industry grows by 15 per cent annually, generating turnover of Rmb4.5tn by 2015.
Past efforts to build such “pillar industries” have sometimes led to vast overcapacity and trade conflicts, with China’s government accused of giving an unfair advantage to local companies. The State Council said eligible foreign-funded companies would enjoy the same benefits from the environmental protection plan as their Chinese counterparts.
It also said that it would accelerate research into environmentally friendly vehicles and develop technology and equipment for the control of air, water and soil pollution.
The plan suggests China is accelerating efforts to become a world leader in clean technology. It has already announced a series of steps to curb pollution and reduce carbon emissions.
The central government will direct more of its budget to fund environmental protection industries and encourage eligible companies to issue bonds, it added.
