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China plans to levy a consumption tax on more luxury goods, as well as on products that cause severe environmental pollution and waste resources, Lou Jiwei, finance minister, was quoted as saying today. We think the announcement, made after a meeting of top legislators, reinforces the sense that key reform initiatives are gaining momentum ahead of a key Communist Party meeting set for November (Update Alert, Aug 27).
The new set of policy priorities for Xi Jinping’s administration, increasing public discontent, and the diminishing importance of the industrial sector to China’s economy, makes us cautiously optimistic that the drive to tackle pollution could gain momentum this year.
Waste management has been a laggard in China’s rapid development but now forces are aligning to boost prospects for the sector
Around 50% of water in the public water systems across China is unsanitary, China’s media has disclosed, quoting an unpublished survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD) in 2009. Another official MHURD document, meanwhile, disclosed that only 83% of the urban water supply met sanitary standards in 2011. The issue follows health scares in recent years around milk contamination, filthy cooking oil used in restaurants and suspect drug capsules.
The Chinese government this week banned its airlines from paying charges on carbon emissions imposed by European Union. China’s State Council (cabinet) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) prohibited all domestic carriers from joining the EU carbon emission trading scheme and from charging passengers extra based on it. How entrenched is Beijing’s position?
Artificial suppression of key utility prices – including water, electricity and gas – has been part of the secret of China’s industrial success. But now things are changing.
The US battery maker has come under the spotlight for allegedly causing lead poisoning among children in the proximity of its Shanghai plant.
As China prepares for the Copenhagen summit, wind power shows both the scale of its ambition and the size of the challenge it faces.
Six structural transformations that are set to drive growth over the next decade.
The importance placed on July’s Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the two nations raises a sense of optimism that the US and China may be able to make progress on key issues such as climate change.
11 Sep 2014
