Sustainable growth is an article of faith

Chinese companies working in Africa are finding that environmental requirements also offer huge opportunities, as Li Lianxing reports in Nairobi.

A bottle of water stands on the desk in an office in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The water is so clear that it is barely imaginable that a short while ago, it was running through a river into which flows all the wastewater from a local tannery.

The fact that the water, in an office of the Sululta environmental authority, is regarded as the purest river water in the region is a feather in the cap of the tannery, proud that its processed waste water has met the requirements of local environmental regulations and is harmless to the environment.