Hubei takes carrot and stick approach to pollution
Print Edition
Central China’s Hubei Province has announced a bonus/penalty scheme in its fight against pollution, the second province to do so after Shandong in the east.
The air quality in 15 cities, Shennongjia Forest District and the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture will be assessed quarterly.
Local governments will have to pay from 150,000 yuan (US$22,980) to 300,000 yuan, depending on weather conditions, for every microgram per cubic meter increase in PM2.5 or PM10 particles compared to the same period the year before. Should the figures be lower, they will be paid similar amounts.
In addition, they will be fined or rewarded from 300,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan if PM10 density is one microgram higher or lower than a desired level yet to be determined.
When environmental campaigners Greenpeace assessed air quality across China last year, Hubei ranked fourth in a list of worst provinces, with its PM2.5 density averaging 65 micrograms per cubic meter in the first nine months.
The annual safe level of PM10 and PM2.5 particles, according to national standards, is 70 and 35 micrograms, respectively.
Shandong introduced its air quality scheme in 2014.
Local governments in its 17 cities are given scores based on the density of PM2.5, PM 10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
Rewards, or fines, are based on multiplying those scores by 200,000 yuan. That sum has been raised to 400,000 yuan this year.
By September 2014, only Yantai in the northeast of the province paid a 1 million yuan penalty while the other 16 cities had benefited from rewards totalling almost 116 million yuan.
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