MIIT Promotes Cleaner Production in Industries      

On September 17th, 2009 the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) urged various industries and the communications industry to clean up production, pointing out that in addition to end-point pollution treatment, industry should focus on reducing and controlling pollution at the source and throughout the production process. Industry is a major consumer of resources and energy and a major emitter of pollutants. Its consumption of resources and energy accounts for 70% of China's total, and its emissions of COD and sulfur dioxide (SO2) account for 35% and 86% of the totals in China. From 2003 to the end of 2008, only 10 965 industrial enterprises in China carried out cleaner production - only 3.25% of China's total industrial enterprises - and only 25% of the proposed cleaner production projects were implemented. Local governments have arranged only RMB480 million of financial funds in total to support cleaner production - only 1.8% of the total investment in cleaner production by enterprises.
   The notice urges local governments to work out an implementation plan for cleaner production. Enterprises directly managed by the central government have also been asked to make out a specific plan for implementing cleaner production in line with their actual situations and place it in their development plans.
   Local governments need to establish a system to audit and assess cleaner production, and actually carry out such audits.