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China's new pollution laws must be enforced

The road to a clean environment in China is paved with good intentions and severely potholed with the legacy of unsustainable economic growth policies.

The road to a clean environment in China is paved with good intentions and severely potholed with the legacy of unsustainable economic growth policies. The long-overdue arrival of tougher laws against polluters, including the removal of a 500,000 yuan (HK$630,000) cap on fines that can now be imposed daily and the introduction of emission permits, is a step in the right direction. Their effectiveness will depend on rigorous implementation against state and private enterprise alike and, ultimately, a willingness to make them even tougher.

A law held in contempt can encourage the very activity it is intended to deter. The mainland's environmental laws are a case in point, thanks to lax enforcement and weak penalties against polluters. The amendments, which came into force on January 1, follow a pledge to abandon a growth-at-all-costs economic model and a court order last week to six companies to pay out a total of 160 million yuan in compensation for dumping nearly 26,000 tonnes of chemical waste in rivers.

The signs are positive. But concerns remain. One is that companies can buy permits to emit pollutants, which is not to be compared with legally binding agreements to reduce and control them. Another is that it remains to be seen whether the new penalties will function as a deterrent, or as a business cost worth paying to carry on polluting, as the previous ones did.

To be effective, penalties must get the attention of investors. So long as they remain content with a company's performance, it has no incentive to reduce the regulatory costs of pollution. As soon as investors become unhappy, polluters face a real deterrent. That said, the amendments have other strong points, including greater transparency about environmental monitoring and impact assessments, hailed as a breakthrough by some activists. With fearless enforcement and strong political support for the Ministry for Environmental Protection's new powers, the changes could make a big difference.

For the sake of the quality of life, companies must be encouraged to strive for continuous improvement in environmental compliance rather than just focusing on passing audits. It is encouraging that dozens of mainland firms are set to try out such an approach being promoted by the Brussels-based Foreign Trade Association, given that Europe is at the forefront of industrial emissions reduction.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pollution laws must be enforced
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