Study: China's urban areas lax on pollution reporting

BEIJING - Most big cities in China still failed to publish adequate pollution information in 2011 despite the gradual establishment and consolidation of a nationwide environmental protection transparency mechanism, a newly published report found.

Only 19 out of 113 cities got a passing score of 60 out of 100, based on the Pollution Information Transparency Index, jointly developed by the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and US-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

The average score was 40. But the result is already an improvement compared to the average of 31 for 2008, when the study was first conducted, and 36 for 2009 and 2010.