China Environmental Law

“China’s Silver Lining,”  James Fallows’ piece on China’s pollution problems from the June issue of the Atlantic is now available online. I enthusiastically recommend that you read the entire article (not least because it quotes yours truly and my good friend Peggy Liu at JUCCCE); it manages to convey both the monumental challenges and the grounds for cautious optimism that characterize the current situation.

On his blog Mr. Fallow’s admits that the article ends up

arguing a case I had not at all expected to argue before trekking across the country to see a variety of anti-pollution efforts. The argument, in brief, is that the environmental situation here is less uniformly disastrous than most outside discussion assumes — and that recognizing where, why and how much it is improving (and where it isn’t) is crucial for taking the next big steps forward. Those next big steps, in turn, are necessary so that Chinese industrialization doesn’t kill everyone in China and half the people in the rest of the world.

Despite these high stakes, I think you will come away feeling just a little bit more hopeful about where China is heading on the environmental front after reading the stories in this narrative piece.

Because I want you to read it, I will refrain from providing a synopsis of the article here, but there is one point (that I have heard mentioned before but never in such a particularly striking fashion) that I want to note. It qualifies as one of those “next big steps” that need to be taken in China.

The article profiles a window company, Envision in China/Vision Wall elsewhere, started by Shanghai native, Albert Wong, whose energy efficient windows

cost 10 percent more than standard glass. But if specified from the start, they can reduce construction costs for an entire building by 15 percent or more, since the heating and air-conditioning systems can be reduced by half. Plus, they save money each year on fuel.

Unfortunately, after five years of trying, Mr. Wong has not been able to sell any of the windows in China.

The factory near Shanghai will supply customers in Korea, Japan, North America-but not the surrounding provinces. The barriers are the conservatism of the construction industry (not the most adventurous group in any country), and the fact that even if his windows save coal for China, they will cut out an existing glass manufacturer.

The construction industry in China is controlled by a few giants in each region. They are driven to build as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Even if environmentally friendly and energy efficient building materials are specified by the architect and developer (which still does not happen with great frequency) they may not make it into the building because they typically cost more initially and are not part of the product line carried by the contractors favored suppliers (who are probably connected in some way-financial or familial-with the contractor). Ideas as to how to crack this nut would go a long way to saving the world as China continues in the midst of the biggest building boom in history.