China Commits to Environmental Protection     

A report published by the National Bureau of Statistics on October 9th shows that since 2002 the control on environmental pollution in China has been intensified, the protection of ecological environment has been strengthened, the input in pollution control has increased stably, the environment legal systems has been further improved and the environmental protection industry has made new progress.
   The control of industrial "wastes" has made initial achievements. The rate of standard compliance in industrial waste water emission reached 90.7% in 2006, being 2.4 percentage points higher than 2002.
   The air quality in cities has had an overall improvement. In the 559 cities surveyed in 2006, cities whose air quality reached or surpassed the state Class-2 air quality standard accounted for 62.4%, being 28.6 percentage points higher than 2002.
   Financial departments have increased their input in the control of environmental pollution and the protection of ecological environment. Various incentive policies have also been adopted to attract social funds and even foreign funds to the environmental protection industry. The environmental protection input in China has therefore grown rapidly.
   The total investment made in the control of environmental pollution was RMB256.6 billion in 2006, an increase of 87.7% over 2002. Of the total, the investment made in the construction of environmental infrastructures in cities was RMB131.5 billion, an increase of 66.7% over 2002.
   The total revenue in sectors related to environmental protection was around RMB600 billion in 2006 and the profit was around RMB52 billion. The environmental protection industry has developed constantly and supported the control of environmental pollution, the protection of natural resources and the improvement of ecological environment.