Local govts can no longer pursue GDP with environmental impact

A local leader may boast how well his city or province has done in protecting the local environment and ecosystems, but the central government has a series of standards and indexes to determine how much local officials have really done in these regards.

The National Bureau of Statistics, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and some other State and Party departments jointly released the results of analyzing these standards and indexes for 2016 on Monday. In the published results, such green development indexes as the utilization of resources, remedying contaminated soil or water, the environmental quality and the conservation of biosystems are listed for different provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Also published is the degree of satisfaction with the local environment expressed by residents.

This is the first time such information has been published, and it is to become an annual practice. The releasing of the information means it is not just the central government that will know how well a local government has performed in protecting the environment and local ecosystems, but also ordinary residents.