Encouraging green projects  

Local governments should not allow projects that seriously pollute to be set up in their regions, even if they are highly lucrative, says an article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

Major polluters in Tianjin have reached the end of the line, as the municipal government is determined to improve the local environment. But these scrapped projects are hot bidding targets for legions of business-luring officials from other provinces, especially those from economically less developed areas.

Do these officials that are so keen to entice businesses not know how many environmental woes big polluters may cause? It seems they do not.

They just see projects in terms of profits. They would rather use the "pollute first, pay later" development model as long as they can create "visible accomplishments," such as more job offers, higher revenues and increased GDP.

Although local government officials' short-sightedness, selfishness and ignorance about scientific development could be blamed, some deep-rooted problems deserve more consideration.

Projects that harm the environment should be subject to checks by environmental law enforcement bodies. Yet the environmental law is often too weak to stop these activities.

In addition, the evaluation system currently used by government officials focuses more on economic development than environmental protection.

For development to be pursued in a less damaging way, appraisal reports should be used as important indicators evaluating officials' performance.

"Pollute first, pay later" is too costly a developmental model. China's resource scarcity and often challenging environmental conditions do not give us the right to engage in more and more polluting projects, not even for the sake of economic growth. Trying to foster a green economy is preferable.