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China 's SUPERFUND Initiative
China promised to clean the air in Beijing when it won the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. This has thrown a spotlight on one of the country's most serious public health problems.
The types of Pollution-based environmental problems were perceived as very important to Americans in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before the U.S. enacted its core environmental policy. On December 11, 1980, the U.S. Congress passed the SUPERFUND bill, which was to provide liability laws and resources for cleaning up some of America 's most polluted areas.
China's breakneck economic growth for the last 30 years has led to severe and growing air and water pollution.
The World Bank reports that 99 percent of China 's 560 million urban residents breathe air considered unsafe by the European Union standards, many of the city wastewater is drained directly into the river and stream without being properly treated which seriously polluting the water quality.
The Chinese have been working towards a green Olympics since 2001 and results changes of:
· In 2007, emissions of sulphur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in China decreased by 4.66 percent over 2006.
· In 2005, China enacted the world's strictest fuel-efficiency and emissions standards for vehicles. 96 percent of America 's SUVs would fail.
· In January 2006 China 's State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) halted $14 billion worth of large infrastructure projects for environmental concerns.
· In February 2006, China passed first law requires utilities to purchase renewable energy.
· As part of the 11th 5 Year Plan, China planned to increase ethanol production capacity to 6 million tons by 2010. By the end of 2006, the first year of the plan, ethanol capacity was 10 million tons.
· The Chinese Government recently been banned grocery stores that gave out a estimated of 1.75 billion thin plastic bags a year.
The Chinese government finally wised up with a newfound “Green Law” that is devotes environmental awareness has also recently adopted its own version of SUPERFUND laws. The decision virtually guarantees profit of billions for companies that will help reverse decades of environmental degradation and to clean its environment.
The National Climate Change Program is designed to provide the capital to change China's economy to promote clean technologies and better energy efficiency. China's government has committed over $314.5 billion dollars to fix its environmental problems, investing in solar power, wind power, water purification, clean burning fuels, bio-diesel, nuclear and others.
The China’s SUPERFUND includes:
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· $14.5 billion to clean up one of China's biggest reservoirs
· $10 billion investment for clean energy technology
· $85 billion to clean up water pollution
· $80 billion to lower air pollution
· $125 billion to improve sewage treatment and infrastructure
The majority of infrastructure installations in China today mirror those of the United States in the 1950s. The recent national goal to install wastewater treatment plants throughout the country is no exception. The United States achieved its goal by enacting a federal construction grant program; China is doing so by encouraging foreign investment and providing federal funding that totals nearly $9 billion over the last five years.
With less than 15 percent of the population connected to operational treatment plants, the need for proper wastewater sanitation in China is paramount.
In 2000, the central government ordered all cities of more than 500,000 people to treat at least 60 percent of their wastewater by 2005. The success of this mandate has been unclear, as many parts of the country continue to pollute at rates faster than the facilities are being installed.
This complication is presumed to be the main rationale for the Chinese government’s endorsement of a scheme to build 150 new wastewater treatment plants along the Yangtze by 2009. The total cost of the plan is estimated at over $4.5 billion.
The reality of construction has been sobering—as of early 2007,
not even half of the facilities had been built!
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