CHINA’S ENVIRONMENT

FAILURES IN ENFORCING CHINA’S GREEN LEGISLATION

Stanley Lubman

China RealTime Report, December 7, 2010

China, the world’s largest polluter, has been adopting laws to control and reduce pollution since 1979, and there are frequent reports in the press emphasizing efforts to control pollution. But regardless of how many new environmental laws are adopted, enforcement remains a critical problem.

This is true in the case of regulation by local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs), and also when citizens try to sue polluters in the courts. Both enforcement mechanisms are marked by the ongoing challenge of balancing environmental protection against the promotion of economic growth and by the tensions between central and local governments. Both also highlight broader systemic problems in Chinese governance.

There are numerous reasons why effective enforcement both by the EPBs and civil suits is greatly hampered. Local EPBs are only “nominally responsible” to the ministry-level Environmental Protection Administration in Beijing, as Elizabeth Economy notes in her 2004 book “The River Runs Black,” and rely on local governments for “virtually all their support.” Local government officials also benefit from higher levels of output in their region, as Gregory Chow has observed, noting that “they receive credits for economic development and sometimes bribes from polluting producers.” Local governments, the courts and the EPBs give protection to key local enterprises.

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