China names and shames major state enterprises for breaching pollution limits
- Heavy industry among companies fined up to US$1 million amid fears economic slowdown is undermining war on pollution
- Environment ministry fines business for exceeding limits and says some regions have used slowing economy as excuse to backslide on curbs
China has publicly accused dozens of firms, including some of its largest state enterprises, of exceeding pollution limits and breaching monitoring standards, as concerns grow that the slowing economy is undermining a five-year war on pollution.
In lists published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment over the past week, subsidiaries of state giants such as China Baowu Steel Group and the Aluminium Corporation of China were cited and fined for breaching emissions standards among other violations.
China has been stepping up its supervision capabilities and has plugged thousands of factories into a real-time emissions monitoring system, but enforcement remains one of its biggest challenges.
The ministry has continued to warn that China’s slowing economy had given some regions an excuse to “loosen their grip” on environmental protection.
In the first quarter of this year, air quality in smog-prone northern regions fell compared with last year, and some regions also saw pollution readings in major lakes and rivers rise over the period.
A notice published last Friday said as many as 82 Chinese enterprises exceeded waste water emissions standards in the fourth quarter of 2018, including 44 sewage treatment plants and six waste water treatment facilities.