The mainland's much touted campaign to reduce pollution over the past five years did nothing to stem its environmental degradation, a government-backed study has found.
Those who have been dazzled by China's economic miracle may be astonished by the latest revelations of the environmental cost of such prosperity.
An incomplete calculation of the environmental costs in 2008 showed that pollution caused nearly 900 billion yuan (HK$1.05 trillion) in economic losses, or 3 per cent of that year's gross domestic product, according to the study, which was previously known as the Green GDP Project.
It is now called the Research Project on Nationwide Environmental-Economic Accounting, and is led by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, a government think tank under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The estimated total cost of environmental degradation, which includes the direct costs of pollution and damage to ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and grasslands, was 1.28 trillion yuan in 2008, accounting for 3.9 per cent of the mainland's economic output.
'The findings demonstrate that the cost of environmental pollution as a result of economic growth has seen a steady increase despite progress made in the country's pollution and emissions reduction campaign during the 11th Five-Year Programme,' the think tank said on its website on December 25. 'Pressure to tackle pollution and environmental damage continues to build up as pollution costs have seen a surge of nearly 75 per cent in the five years [2004-08].'
It is only the second report to be published since the controversial project was set up in 2004 with the aim of providing a true picture of the mainland's environmental degradation.