[SustainableTompkins] China Releases Green GDP Index, Tests New Development Path

[GayNicholson at aol.com]

Published on Worldwatch Institute (_http://www.worldwatch.org_ 
(http://www.worldwatch.org/) ) 
China Releases Green GDP Index, Tests New Development Path 
By Jianqiang Liu 
 
Created Sep 28 2006 - 11:01am 
 
The Chinese government released its first “green” gross domestic product  
(GDP) report earlier this month, presenting an alternative to the nation’s  
current economic development path. The report, titled China Green  National 
Accounting Study Report 2004 [1], measures economic growth  while also factoring in 
the environmental consequences of that growth, and is  the world’s first 
national index of its kind.  
According to the report, environmental pollution cost China 511.8 billion  
yuan (US$63 billion) in economic losses in 2004, accounting for 3 percent of  
GDP. The environmental costs of water pollution, air pollution, and solid wastes 
 and pollution accidents accounted for 55.9 percent, 42.9 percent, and 1.2  
percent of the total costs, respectively. 
These figures demonstrate that the rapid economic growth [2] that the  
Chinese government has been so proud of has been achieved in part at the expense  of 
the environment and people’s health. Pan Yue, Deputy Director of the State  
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), notes that as much as one-fifth 
 of China’s GDP growth is attained though “overdraft” of resources and the  
environment. 
China is undergoing a serious environmental crisis. One-third of its land  
area is contaminated by acid rain [3]; more than 300 million rural  residents 
have no access to safe drinking water [4]; over 400 million  urban dwellers 
breathe heavily polluted air [5] (15 million of whom  suffer from related 
respiratory diseases); and the country is home to five of  the ten most polluted 
cities in the world.   
Pan Yue, who is well respected for his willingness to speaking openly,  
believes that China’s environmental concerns have their root in the country’s  
politics, specifically in its narrow view on development. The government has  
long equated economic growth with development, believing that economic growth  
would bring the material resources needed to address various political, social,  
and environmental problems. Even today, the major benchmark for evaluating 
local  government officials is GDP growth. As long as the economy is expanding,  
officials are likely to be promoted even though a locality may suffer from  
deteriorating environmental quality.  
Pan Yue believes that political issues should be addressed through political  
means. To solve China’s environmental problems, he says, the government 
should  change its approach to development and introduce the Green GDP index into 
its  official evaluation system. Pan has been actively promoting the new index 
in  recent years, and hopes to refine it in the future. Currently, the 
accounting  system covers the costs of only 10 items, including: the health, 
agricultural,  and materials losses caused by air pollution; the health, industrial, 
and  agricultural production losses and water shortage caused by water 
pollution; and  the economic loss caused by the occupation of land for solid waste 
disposal. It  does not account for groundwater or soil contamination and many 
other key items.  
According to Zhou Jian, Director of SEPA’s Planning Division, the agency has  
coordinated with China’s Central Committee in a trial effort to include the  
Green GDP index in the evaluation system for officials in three provinces and  
cities. The trial will initially include two components of the index:  
environmental quality and pollution control. Many experts, however, are not  
optimistic about the new measurement system, worrying that it is not perfectly  
scientific and that it may face strong resistance from local officials.  
But Pan Yue continues to express strong enthusiasm for the Green GDP index,  
noting that any resistance from local officials reflects their own uneasiness  
about being held accountable to it. “We will achieve half of our goal in 
holding  them in check,” Pan says. He is confident that China will ultimately 
pursue a  development path that follows the Green GDP.  
Jianqiang Liu is a senior investigative journalist with China  Southern 
Weekend and a visiting scholar at Peking University. 
 
____________________________________
Source URL:
_http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4626_ (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4626)  
 
Links:
[1]  http://english.gov.cn/2006-09/11/content_384596.htm
[2]  http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4529
[3]  http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4496
[4]  http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4423
[5]  http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3881



----------------------------------------------------
Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618  (cell)

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Lansing, NY  14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins 
Program  Coordinator 
w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) 

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional  Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY  14850
agn1 at cornell.edu