Calculating the economic cost of environmental degradation is
proving a tough challenge for two government bodies.
But the head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Xie
Fuzhan, yesterday said his organization will continue to attempt to
do so, despite some experts describing it as a "mission
impossible".
"We are still doing research on how to calculate our green GDP
(gross domestic product)," Xie told reporters at a press conference
organized by the State Council Information Office.
He said no country in the world used the green GDP accounting
system, which deducts the cost of environmental damage and resource
depletion caused by economic development from the standard GDP
figure.
An insider named Zhang, who asked to be referred to by only his
surname, said Xie's organization had considered giving up on the
complicated task, but Xie ruled that out.
"Despite the difficulties, we will carry on with our research
and try all means to find the solution," Xie said.
In contrast, the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA), the bureau's partner on the accounting project, has already
shifted its research focus to the use of market tools to tackle
environmental woes, Zhang, who works for a US-based NGO, said.
Zhang, who is close to both governmental agencies, said the SEPA
had mobilized a large taskforce to work on environmental taxation,
ecological compensation, the green capital market and emissions
trade research.
"As far as I know, they have shown an intent to quit the green
GDP plan," he said.
The organization for which Zhang works sponsored the SEPA and
the NBS in 2004, when they first embarked on the project.
But Zhang said it now seems "meaningless", even if they did find
a workable system to calculate the green GDP.
"It would still be difficult to persuade other economies in the
world to use the system," he said.
Since 2004, the SEPA and the NBS have been running pilot
projects in 10 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and
Tianjin.
But not all regions have been enthusiastic, Zhang said.
In Sichuan, for example, only the provincial environmental
protection department took part in the project, while in Hebei, the
provincial statistics bureau said it was not interested in the
accounting system, he said.
There is no evidence to suggest China will find a reliable and
accurate solution, at least in the near future, because the
environmental monitoring system in the country is far from
complete, Zhang said.
"Even if we have the monitoring system, the difficulty results
from the fact that GDP is a sum that can be measured in money
terms, while it is very difficult to put a price on environmental
losses and resource depletion," Zhang said.
"For instance, how do you put a price on the impact on residents
of a polluted river?"
Zhang said no country had found a solution to the challenge,
even though the concept had been widely discussed around the world
for more than 30 years.
Power consumption
China's electricity consumption rose by 14.2 percent and its
power consumption per unit of GDP by 2.75 percent last year, the
NBS said yesterday.
The proportion of electricity in the total figure rose from 38.1
percent in 2005 to 39.5 percent last year, Xie said.
"It was the largest increase in the past three years," he
said.
It shows the proportion of coal being used has decreased, he
said.
Xie attributed the increase to the non-productive consumption of
power.
"As people's living standards have improved, so they have used
their heaters more in winter and air conditioners more in summer,
which has meant more power being consumed," he said.
Xie said another factor was the rapid growth of industries that
consume large amounts of electricity.
Beijing registered the best energy use efficiency of Chinese
provinces last year, with its power consumption per unit of GDP
falling by 5.01 percent.
North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region saw its
electricity consumption per unit of GDP increase by 11.61 percent
last year, the highest nationwide.
(China Daily July 13 2007)
