China Changes Laws to Protect Environment: Heavy Fines Await Air Polluters

After serious health warnings regarding pollution in Chinese cities, most notably Beijing, the Chinese Parliament finally decided to amend the environmental protection law and will give non-governmental activist groups more power.

With the first changes to environmental legislation in 25 years, the new revised law has 70 articles and the amendments will go into affect on January 1, 2015. This will give some time for companies to make adjustments, especially since there is no limit on the fines set for polluters. Additionally, company executives would be held responsible for such pollution and they could be jailed for up to 15 days.

In February, Beijing reached dangerous levels of air pollution and the alert was raised to "orange," the second-highest level. The city's readings exceeded 500 micrograms of particulate matter (PM) per cubic meter. Particulate matter is particle pollution consisting of a mixture between small particles and liquid droplets. The World Health Organization recommends levels no higher than 25 micrograms per cubic meter over the course of a 24-hour period.

These events put even more pressure on the government to take action. China's has the largest population in the world and their pollution has reached unprecedented levels over the last decade, contributing to millions of deaths in 2012 (the latest report on such information). The National People's Congress approved the amendments for the environmental law on Thursday.

In addition to big corporations and powerful executives, local officials can be held responsible under the new law, which could result in their dismissal or demotion if they are found guilty for covering up violations or not releasing important environmental information. One can only assume this is part of Presdient Xi Jinping's "war on pollution" that he declared last month in response to the happenings in Beijing.

As the President Obama and the U.S. look to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the world could be a much cleaner place in the near future with the two largest polluting countries taking action on the matter.