China pledges more targeted approach to battle against pollution
- Environment ministry says it has fined offenders US$2 billion as it announces plan to take more nuanced approach
China fined its environmental regulation violators a total of 13.6 billion yuan (US$2 billion) in the first 11 months this year, as the environment ministry said it will adopt more efficient and targeted measures during its campaign against pollution next year, but will not relax the targets or ease the crackdown on violators.
The push for new measures follows an annual meeting of top leaders last week which noted that the world’s second-largest economy is facing downward pressures.
“We will coordinate environmental protection with economic development and avoid simple and brutal forces to deal with violations,” the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement Monday.
The ministry urged local environmental bureaus to help companies set pollution treatment solution plans and to pay attention to reasonable appeals of companies during environmental inspections.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the ministry said it has issued 166,210 notices of penalty decisions to environmental regulation violators, with fines totalling 13.6 billion yuan in the first 11 months this year.
Top provinces in penalising its polluters including Jiangsu, which fined violators for 2 billion yuan by November this year, followed by Guangdong (1.5 billion yuan), Hebei (1.3 billion) and Shandong (1 billion), according to the ministry.