When NRDC started in the US 40 years ago, there were serious environmental problems in that country. There was an "outpouring of citizens' concern" and tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Earth Day in 1970 to demand that the US government take the environment seriously, she recalls. "We (the US) still have serious challenges, the largest of which is carbon emissions we have a very big economy, we emit a lot of carbon. The other is toxicity. In many ways, we are a chemical-based society in our air and water."

The environmental challenges that China faces today were faced by developed nations, in Europe and North America both, years ago. "These are issues you can address," she says. "The systems are known, the measures that need to be taken are known One of the things that we have learnt is that voluntary mechanisms are inadequate you have to set standards, make companies improve.

"Many companies operating in China are global companies. They operate to very high environmental standards in other countries, and they could easily operate at the same level (in China) if required. The big challenge for the next five-year plan is to set the expectation levels for industrial operations as they go forward and insist that they improve the environment."

Beinecke served as a member of the US National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The Chinese government, too, sought her advice during her recent visit to the country, for China is set to start offshore drilling for oil to satiate its increasing appetite for energy and build up its own oil reserves.

"The BP oil spill has shown the world what the consequences can be," Beinecke says. "During our investigation, we felt it was an accident that could have been avoided if the highest safety standards had been in place and if the federal government's supervision was adequate. There was no single human error, no single equipment malfunction it was a complex system that failed in complex ways."

Now that China is going in for offshore drilling aggressively, it should put in place the highest safety standards, she says. The government must see to it that companies meet the "highest safety standards", and ensure that "environmental reviews are adequate" and "done in advance so that areas of particular environmental fragility or significance are identified and protected".

"I urge China that before giving the rights to companies to go offshore and start drilling, it must make sure that they (the companies) have adequate supervision and safety systems, conduct appropriate environmental analysis in advance to know the risks involved, and establish a response mechanism with the help of the office of maritime safety so if something happens they would be prepared to deal with it."

NRDC has seen China's tremendous enthusiasm for clean energy and clean technology, and their development, she says. "Some people are worried that there is a race between China and the US over clean technology. The reality is China and the US are the two largest carbon emitters in the world, and we both need clean technologies.

"Maybe we are in a race but we are in a race that both need to win. There is no single winner in this. We need to generate energy in our countries through renewable resources and develop capacities to do that as quickly as possible," she concludes.