Annual Production Value of Environmental Protection Industry Expected to Surpass One Trillion Yuan by the End of the 11th Five-Year Plan

China’s environmental protection industry is growing at a rate of 12%-15% every year. According to the 4th Green Fortune (China) Forum concluded in Beijing recently, the annual output of China's environmental protection industry is expected to exceed the one-trillion Yuan mark by the end of the 11th five-year plan. By the end of 2008, China’s environmental protection industry had grown to cover a number of fields, including pollution rectification and ecological protection, and already had more than 3,000 kinds of product. In 2008, the annual production value of the industry totaled at 790 billion Yuan. The industry comprised of 350,000 companies and more than 3 million personnel.

According to Liu Zhiquan, deputy head of the Technology Standard Division at the Environmental Protection Department, since the 11th five-year plan began, China has significantly increased investment in its environmental infrastructure, such as urban sewage disposal and refuse treatment. Under the driving force of policies to actual investment, environmental protection has gone from a potential market to an actual market. By the end of 2008, the country had invested more than 100 billion Yuan, reaching a desulphurization capacity of 363 million kw at coal-fired power plants. At present, more than 1,500 sewage treatment plants have been established. These projects have effectively boosted the growth of the environmental-protection industry.

Mr. Liu pointed out that despite having great potential, the environmental protection industry is still facing a number of issues that are yet to be resolved. For example, limited means of investment and financing, irrational investment structure, low level of industrial concentration and immature pricing mechanisms in sewage and waste treatment are just some of the problems faced. Further guidance and solutions are needed to address these problems. In the future, China’s environmental protection industry will focus on four major fields: recycling driven by circular economy, pollution prevention and ecological protection, environmental supervision instruments and technologies, and environmental services.

(Source: Chinese Government Portal)