China Environmental Law
A discussion of China's environmental and energy laws, regulations, and policies



8th Transnational Corporations China Forum 2010 (Mar 6)
I was in Beijing at the beginning of the week to moderate a panel at the 8th Transnational Corporations China Forum 2010 organized by Chinese Academy of International Trade & Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce, to discuss the strategic opportunities and compliance management of multinational corporations in the post-financial crisis era.  My panel focused on [...]


Subsidies for Private Purchases of Low and Zero Emission Vehicles Stalled in China? (Feb 16)
According to the Nanfang Daily, you shouldn’t expect a government subsidy when you buy a hybrid or electric vehicle in China in the near future.  Although the State Council announced last December that it would select five cities to test subsidies for the private purchase of “new energy vehicles,” issues surrounding the form and amount [...]


China’s Soil Pollution Prevention Law (Feb 14)
China recently released some findings from its survey of air and water pollution sources.  The most striking fact was the significant impact of agricultural non-point sources on water pollution levels.  Air and water (at least surface water) pollution which are easily observed generate more attention than pollution of the soil, yet once [...]


Waiting Game (Jan 7)
Here’s a little game we can play while we wait for “sign up” day on January 31, 2010.  What do you think China will submit for inclusion on Appendix II of the Copenhagen Accords? The Accord provides 1 any Annex I party who so chooses can list on Appendix I its “Quantified economy-wide emissions targets for [...]


China’s Renewable Energy Law Amendments (Dec 28)
China amended its Renewable Energy Law (Chinese version) on December 26, 2009.  Chinese spokespersons have emphasized the fact that the amendments require the state grid companies to purchase all power produced by renewable energy sources, but they (and the news agencies that have run with the story) fail to point out that the prior version [...]


Copenhagen Accord: Take One (Dec 20)
I will have a longer post on the Copenhagen Accord when the dust settles. It is pretty clear from the Chinese press reports that China doesn’t know what to make of the Accord or how to spin it yet. One thing is abundantly clear, however, unlike US commentators who have praised the Accord for moving [...]


Start Your Copenhagen Chief Negotiators Trading Card Collection Now (Dec 11)
I’m going to avoid posting daily comments about what’s going on in Copenhagen, since I assume most readers know how to stay informed about the events.  You could have slept through the first three days, however, and not missed anything of substance.  My role is to bring your attention to the underreported stories that add [...]


China gets serious about Copenhagen, develops catchy alpha-numeric slogan (Dec 8)
Now we know that China takes the Copenhagen round of climate change negotiations seriously.  It has developed one of those catchy (if often hard to translate) phrases with numbers to capture its core negotiating principles: “one target, two main channels, three principles, four consensus.” (一个目标，两个主渠道，三个原则，四个共识). Oriental Outlook Weekly published an interview with Cao Rongxiang climate change [...]


Greentech Wars (Dec 4)
A “competition for dominance in the greentech “war” is being quietly started;” our competitor has “launched a new ‘carbon-economic revolution’” and we have been left behind at the “starting gate.” Is Tom Friedman having another China moment?  No, these words come from a Chinese columnist in the China Youth Daily (A new era of “the old [...]


China’s Best Party School? (Nov 30)
The Panyu waste incineration plant protest in Guangzhou last week was important for a number of reasons, but one of the most thoughtful takes on the event comes from an unlikely source, the Communist Party of China’s Guangdong Party School. In an article entitled, “Confronting pollution: ‘expel it’ or ‘manage it’”? (I’d welcome a better translation, [...]