China Environmental Law

A couple of weeks ago we reported on the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s EIA review and approval statistics for the first eight months of the year.  To recap:
January - August 2008
Total Projects seeking EIA approval: 439
Approved: 335 projects (total investment of 1.49 trillion yuan (US$218.2 billion))
Rejected or Postponed: 104 projects (total investment) 314.56 billion yuan [...]

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The parties were “robust” in their self-congratulation:
The SED process has achieved mutual benefits that can only arise through consistent, candid dialogue and consultation. It has become an effective framework for resolving differences and addressing challenges arising from fast-moving bilateral trade and investment issues, thereby advancing the fundamental interests of our countries and peoples.
(Joint U.S.-China Fact [...]

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MEP Organizational Rules
Even when we are stretched very thin here at CELB, we don’t like to leave our readers without something to read.  Thus, we are pleased to announce that we have added a translation of MEP’s recently released Organizational Rules (under the right sidebar marked “Laws & Regulations”) to the already large library of [...]

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If you read just one Poznan prelude article it should be this Bloomberg article: Japan, U.S. Seek to Divide Developing Nations at Climate Talks.  This effort that will have to be pursued in some form or another if there is any hope for achieving a deal in Copenhagen a year from now. 
Japan and the U.S. [...]

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Although CELB’s sources have reported that the kick-off meeting for the Advisory Committee of the Ten Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework (E&E Framework), originally scheduled for December 1, may have been postponed, let me introduce you to the confirmed Advisory Committee members:

Thornton, John (Chairman of the Advisory Committee), Chairman of the Board of Trustees of [...]

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For those of you who thought I would be revealing the names of the SED’s Ten Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework Advisory Committee today, I apologize.  Check back tomorrow.  One more day to get your picks for the Committee in!  If you want to cheat, you can go stand outside of the Treasury Department [...]

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Some of you may be aware of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) (we’ve reported on it previously here and here).  It was established by Presidents Bush and Hu as a
focused and effective framework for addressing issues of mutual concern. By prioritizing issues in the broader context of our bilateral economic relationship, the SED [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers.  This is a work day in China (and the rest of the world), so we are here at the office.  We’re going to take it easy, however, so no long post today.  Watch for some exciting stories in the coming days, including:

An article on the Strategic Economic Dialogue’s [...]

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China’s energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 3.46% over the first three quarters according to a report in China Petroleum Daily.  For the third quarter, energy use per unit of GDP fell 0.58 pct, according to Yu Cong, director of the energy efficiency center under the Energy Research Institute.  If this is so, it [...]

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I spent my morning at a workshop hosted by Shanghai’s Environmentally Friendly City Initiative.  I was attending as a representative of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) so let me report with that hat on.
There were presentations by the head of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB), and representatives of the United [...]

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