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China to strengthen supervision of listed firms' pollution

By Ren Jie (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-04 16:16

Before the end of June, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection intends to issue a manual requiring listed firms to provide more information about their environmental performance, the 21st Century Business Herald reported today.

The manual is expected to outline disclosure standards.

This is the second pillar of the "green securities" program, which was adopted by the ministry and the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2008, aimed at curbing excessive growth in the country's highly polluting sectors and spurring listed firms to improve their environmental performance.

The programs require companies in sectors like thermal power, steel, cement and aluminum to get the approval from the ministry before they apply to the securities regulator to sell shares.

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About nine enterprises were prohibited from issuing shares in 2009 because they did not get the approval. Some firms got approval only by promising that they will improve their pollution control quickly and get official inspections regularly.

However, in the 2009 inspections, the ministry discovered 11 listed companies, including Zijin Mining Group Co and China Coal Energy Co, still had grievous pollution problems and failed to carry out their promise.

The 11 companies were required to finish their rectification before June 25, or they will face much stricter punishment, the ministry said.

The ministry hopes the manual can strengthen supervision, which will be a breakthrough point for the "green securities" plan, the paper said.