A market-oriented ecological program, called emission trading, has been introduced in some parts of China and is expected to deliver more practical information to the country's environmental protection decision-makers.
The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), together with the United States Environmental Defence (EDF) taskforce has begun to apply the laws of economics to curb acid rain, according to Tuesday's China Daily.
EDF chief economist Daniel J. Dudek said the emission trading is based on existing caps that limits the amounts of pollution produced by industrial sources, such as power plants and other factories. When emissions fall below the permitted level, the factory is allowed to store the excess quota for future use or to trade with other industrial units which can not meet the pollution standard set by the environmental protection authorities.
The end result provides the buyer with an increased emission quota, a must for its future expansion, while the seller is rewarded for its contribution to environmental protection, he said.
Li Lei, a SEPA official in charge of pollution control said thepractice of emission trading does not signal a green light to the generation of pollution.
Buyers and sellers are allowed to trade only within the State pollution control limits, a move that does not damage the local environment, Li said.
The pilot program has been implemented in Shanghai, east China's Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, north China's Shanxi Province and Tianjin, central China's Henan Province and Liuzhou in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with great success.
EDF once pioneered the successful emission trading program in 1990 in the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)
