In a joint effort between the People’s Republic of China and the Asian Development bank, they are finally starting to take pollution issues seriously throughout the country and specifically in Beijing. In the ADB’s most recent report, Toward an Environmentally Sustainable Future: Country Environmental Analysis of the People’s Republic of China, they outlined the major issues regarding pollution and the comprehensive fiscal, economic, and legal measures to push for in order to reach their environmental goals.
The ADB’s environment expert Qingfeng Zhang emphasized the substantial economic hit that China experiences every year from these pollution issues. He stressed the importance of a more forceful pollution tax in order to spread awareness of this increasing devastating problem. In addition they have introduced the idea of more environmentally friendly busses, as well as more proficient factories in terms of the emission of green house gasses.
This announcement merely represents the first step towards environmental improvement. As the Chinese GDP continues to grow at a decreasing rate, their focus must turn to these ecological troubles. When rapidly growing their country towards an urbanized society, China ignored any possible repercussions to the environment. Nevertheless it seems that these problems have finally caught up to the Chinese, and their reaction must be swift and effective.
http://www.adb.org/features/air-pollution-beijing-adb-s-take
We’ve not had detailed readings this term, but some things I’ve used in the past suggest that on certain metrics air quality in China is better than at one time, offset by deterioration in measures tied to desertification and construction (= some particulate matter) and motor vehicle use. Since I didn’t ask for term papers, I couldn’t urge one of you to do a project to keep me more up-to-date on whether there is progress, whether programs and policies will soon catch up with growth and then lead to (literally!) visible improvement.
Would the pollution tax include personal cars that contribute to emissions? I would think incentivizing green busses over personal transport would be a good start.