Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations

Report 2016/14

Haakon Vennemo, Kristin Aunan (Cicero), Rasmus Reinvang, John Magne Skjelvik, CAO Guozhi, JIA Qian, ZHU Wenying, YU Fang og Li Chao

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations

Category	Reports
Sub-Categories	Strategy and process consultingQuality assurance, disputes and expert opinionsDevelopment CooperationEnvironment
Year	2016
Report Number	14
Author(s)	Haakon Vennemo Kristin Aunan (Cicero) Rasmus Reinvang John Magne Skjelvik CAO Guozhi JIA Qian ZHU Wenying YU Fang Li Chao
Download	file_download (871.9 kB)
Read in browser	PDF

R	E	PORT	 	
2016/14	 	
 	
Planning 	for	 Environmental 	Risk 	
R	eduction in China: 	Policy 	
R	ecommendations	 
 	CAO	 Guozhi,	 YU Fang, J	IA	 Qian, Z	HU	 Wenying	, L	I Chao	, Haakon 	
Vennemo, Kristin Aunan, Rasmus Reinvang and John Skjelvik	 	
VISTA ANALYSE AS
 	
PR China Ministry of Environmental Protection 	
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Planning for Environmental Ri	sk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
 
Do	cument	 deta	ils	 	 	
Vista Analyse AS	 	Report numb	er 	2016/14	 	
Title	 	Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: 
Policy Recommendations	 	
ISBN	 	978	-82	-8126	-271	-3 	
Authors	 	CAO Guozhi, YU Fang, JIA Qian, ZHU Wenying, LI 
Chao, Haakon Vennemo, Kristin Aunan, Rasmus 
Reinvang and John Skjelvik	 	
Date of publication	 	09.03.2016	 	
Project Management	 	Yu Fang and Haakon Vennemo	 	
Quality Control	 	John Skjelvik	 	
Clients 	 	PR China Ministry of Environmental Protection	 	
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs	 	
Availability	 	Public	 	
Published at	 	www.vista	-analyse.no	 	
Key words	 	China, Environmental Planning, Environmetnal Risk

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	1 	
Preface	 	
This report contains policy recommendations from the Sino	-Norwegian cooperation 	
project “Planning for cost	-effective environmental risk reduction”, which began in 2013 	
and ends in 2016. 	 	
The present document is 	the CONFERENCE VERSION	. 	
 
 
 
Haakon Vennemo (Vista Analysis) and Yu Fang (CAEP)	 	
Project 	Managers

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	3 	
Content	 	
Preface	 ................................	................................	................................	....................	 1 	
Main recommendations	 ................................	................................	...........................	 5 	
1. 	Introduction	 ................................	................................	................................	......	 9 	
2. 	Learning from International Experience	 ................................	............................	11	 	
2.1	 	A sound legal system is a fundamental guarantee for effectively preventing 	
environmental risks	 ................................	................................	................................	.. 11	 	
2.2	 	A well	-established environmental risk management system ensures the 	
efficient implementation of various measures	 ................................	........................	 12	 	
2.3	 	The basic technological capability play	s an important supporting role in 	
preventing environmental risks	 ................................	................................	...............	 12	 	
3. 	Lessons from the pilot application and test	 ................................	.......................	14	 	
3.1	 	Environmental risk assessment is a powerful tool for environmental 	
management as well as environmental risk prevention and control	 ......................	 14	 	
3.2	 	Data acquisition is the weakest part of the environmental risk assessment and 	
management	 ................................	................................	................................	............	 14	 	
3.3 	Not sufficient knowledge about the environmental risk prevention, control 	
and emergency response measures	 ................................	................................	........	 15	 	
3.4	 	Fundamental research and increased application 	of cost	-benefit analysis 	
(CBA) is urgently needed	................................	................................	..........................	 15	 	
4. 	Main policy recommendations	 ................................	................................	..........	17	 	
4.1	 	Improve the laws and regulations system	 ................................	.....................	 17	 	
4.2	 	Improve the environmental governance system	 ................................	..........	 19	 	
4.3	 	Strengthen the construction of systems and mechanisms	 ...........................	 22	 	
4.4	 	Enhance data collection, application and dissemination supporting capacity	
 	26

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	5 	
Main recommendations	 	
I. Environmental risk assess	ment is a powerful tool for environmental 	
management as well as environmental risk prevention and control, and 
should be comprehensively carried out	 	
China has done a lot in the field of environmental risk assessment, but some problems 
remain 	 	
Since “enviro	nmental risk prevention” was included among the main tasks in China’s 	
national 12th Five	-year Plan for environmental protection, China has done a lot in the 	
field of environmental risk assessment, including the formulation of the Guidelines on 
Environmenta	l Risk Assessment in Enterprises (Tentative) which links environmental risk 	
assessment in an enterprise to the corporate environmental emergency plan, and the 
requirement in the Administrative Measures for Contingency Plan for Environmental 
Emergencies for	 corporate and regional environmental risk assessment. In the wake of 	
the step	-by	-step progress of corporate environmental risk assessment and the reflection 	
on the typical accidents in recent years such as the “Blast in Dalian on Jul. 7”, and “Blast 
in Ti	anjin on Aug.12”, research and administrative personnel have had an increasingly 	
thorough awareness about environmental risks. 	 	
However, the system is not perfect and some problems remain. This project 
recommends to conduct regular environmental risk asses	sments at county levels using 	
the	 Seven	-step 	Framework. The framework includes development of management 	
strategies and is accompanied by a detailed training program.	 	
Environmental risk assessment provides diagnosis, optimized decision making, 
guidance and	 knowled	ge	 	
As a foundation of environmental risk management, environmental risk assessment has 
four functions: first, it provides 	diagnosis	, that is, the assessment provides systematic 	
analysis and identification of the type, distribution and degree of environmental risk; 
second, it provides 	optimized decision making	, that is, the assessment offers advice on 	
environmental risk prevention and 	control for decision makers to implement priority 	
managements; third, it gives 	guidance	, that is, the horizontal and vertical comparison of 	
assessment results may guide the reduction of environmental risk level in high	-risk 	
areas; fourth, it provides 	knowl	edge	, that is, the assessment may lead to improved 	
awareness of environmental risks, environmental risk problems can be identified and 
the capability of environmental risk management can be improved through the 
assessment. 	 	
The Seven	-step Framework for env	ironmental risk assessment 	forms the basis for 	
environmental management at prefecture and province levels	 	
At the core of the 	Seven	-step 	Framework lies a numerical assessment system for acute 	
and accumulated environmental risk at the county level. The asses	sment system forms 	
the basis for a comprehensive, cost	-effective environmental management strategy at 	
the prefecture and province levels. The project has thoroughly tested the framework in

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
6 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
two pilot prefectures and two pilot provinces. Based on successful 	test results the 	
framework has been modified and revised.	 	
The 	Seven	-step 	Framework is accompanied by a detailed training program in strategic 	
environmental assessment and cost benefit analysis, which are two key methods for 
developing cost	-effective enviro	nmental risk management strategies within the 	Seven	-	
step 	Framework.	 	
The Seven	-step Framework should be applied in all provinces in China. Training should 	
be extended and intensified	 	
It is recommended to apply the 	Seven	-step 	Framework 	in all provinces in Ch	ina in order 	
to obtain a county	-level map of acute and accumulated environmental risk that covers 	
the whole country, and obtain cost	-effective strategies for environmental risk at the 	
prefecture and province levels that similarly covers the country. To sup	port the 	Seven	-	
step 	Framework training in Strategic Environmental Assessment and Cost	-Benefit 	
Analysis should be extended and intensified to provincial and prefecture level EPBs in 
China.	 	
II. 	The legal system should be improved, the management system shoul	d 	
be based on risk assessment, governance should be improved, and data 
should be collected, applied and disseminated	 	
Based on international experiences in best practice environmental risk management, as 
well as the pilot prefecture and province tests and a	pplication of the 	Seven	-step 	
Framework, this project has identified a number of additional recommendations.	 	
i. The legal system should be improved	 	
In recent years the legal system to support environmental risk management has been 
strengthened, most recently with the revised Environmental Protection Laws. 	However, 	
important legal gaps remain. China should: 	 	
�x 	Enact special laws and regulations concernin	g the prevention, control, response 	
and handling of environmental accidents. 	These should be similar to the EU’s 	
Seveso Directives.	 	
�x 	Enact special laws and regulations concerning environmental management of 
chemicals. 	These should be similar to the EU REACH	 directive.	 	
�x 	Enact laws on compensation for environmental damage, soil environmental 
protection and ecological protection	. 	
�x 	Strengthen the implementation, supervision and enforcement of existing laws	. 	
ii. 	The environmental management system should be based o	n risk assessment	 	
So far an environmental risk	-based decision	-making system has not been established in 	
China and environmental risk assessment has not been comprehensively and 
substantively incorporated into the strategic planning process. 	China should: 	 	
�x 	Develop a national environmental risk protection strategy and roadmap. The 
Seven	-step Framework provides a way of doing this.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	7 	
�x 	Incorporate environmental risk assessment and management into the decision	-	
making process of governments at all levels. 	The Seven	-step Framework is a basis 	
for this.	 	
�x 	Speed up the construction of the environmental pollution liability insurance 
system	. 	
�x 	Establish a green financial system and an environmental risk prevention and 
control fund.	 	
�x 	Develop a technical guide for environmental 	risk prevention and control and 	
emergency measures. 	The Seven	-step Framework is a basis for this.	 	
�x 	Strengthen environmental risk prevention based on cost	-benefit analysis and 	
strategic environmental assessment. The Seven	-step Framework and the 	
Training Prog	ram are foundations for doing this.	 	
�x 	Improve the law compliance guarantee system	. 	
�x 	Optimize administrative management, e.g., of standards, environmental impact 
assessments and the pollution discharge licensing system.	 	
�x 	Promote the environmental information di	sclosure of enterprises.	 	
iii. 	Environmental governance and control should be improved	 	
The decentralized ecological monitoring system contributes to the low efficiency of 
environmental risk prevention and control in China. 	China should: 	 	
�x 	Coordinate environm	ental risk monitoring in, e.g., environmental protection, 	
forestry, fishery, agriculture, marine industry, as well as other industries. The 
Seven	-step Framework provides a database and indicators for doing this. 	 	
�x 	Coordinate supervision and law enforcement	 	
�x 	Coordinate spatial plans. 	 	
�x 	Establish a sound priority control and chemical inventory system	 	
�x 	Establish a full life cycle management system for chemicals	 	
�x 	Establish a toxic and harmful substance release inventory system	 	
�x 	Boost environmental assessment by enter	prises	 	
�x 	Highlight environmental risk assessment in plans and policies. The Seven	-step 	
Framework provides a way of doing this.	 	
�x 	Accelerate regional environmental risk assessment. The Seven	-step Framework 	
provides a way of doing this.	 	
�x 	Improve the environmental	 damage assessment system and promote the 	
damage compensation system	 	
iv. 	Data collection, application and dissemination should be enhanced	 	
Compared with traditional concepts and methods of environmental management, risk	-	
based environmental management requi	res more data and data of higher quality. 	
Existing data are unable to support environmental risk assessment and management in 
a comprehensive manner. 	China should:	 	
�x 	Build a national integrated network to monitor indicators of environmental risk	 	
�x 	Enhance the 	monitoring capacity and statistical capacity relevant to 	
environmental risk	 	
�x 	Strengthen information disclosure

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
8 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
�x 	Conduct and overall environmental risk assessment. The Seven	-step 	
Framework provides a method for doing this.	 	
�x 	Establish environmental risk pre	-war	ning systems for key fields and key regions. 	
This includes drinking water sources, heavily polluted water, cross	-border rivers 	
and trans	-boundary river basins, as well as air pollution hot spots.	 	
�x 	Strengthen monitoring of public opinion with the intention o	f learning what are 	
public concerns. 	 	
�x 	Build an environmental emergency response team	 	
�x 	Strengthen environmental emergency response and equipment support	 	
�x 	Improve standards and norms concerning risk prevention facilities and storage 
of emergency material equip	ment.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	9 	
1.	 Introduction	 	
The 	Project on 	“Planning for Cost	-Effective Environmental Risk Reduction	” is an 	
extension of 	the phase I project	 “Improving the 	Effectiveness of Provincial Level Five 	
Year Environmental Plans”	. Based upon the current situation of environmental risk 	
prevention in China and the main problems in the planning management, this project is 
designed to learn from foreign systems and method	s in relevant fields, strengthen the 	
top	-down	 design, build a methodological framework for environmental risk prevention 	
and planning and improve 	it through pilot application, offer training and learning of 	
models and methods	. O	n this basis, 	we provide	 pol	icy recommendations in order to 	
establish an efficient environmental risk prevention and planning system, promote the 
effective integration of environmental risk prevention, control and management 
methods into the environmental planning system, and improve	 the capacity of pilot 	
provinces and municipalities to apply the environmental risk prevention and planning 
methods. 	 	
The project 	was divided into 	9 main	 activities:	 	
�z 	Activity 1: Inception and baseline	 	
�z 	Activity 2: Study environmental planning methodologies	 	
�z 	Activity 3: Develop methodological framework for environmental risk 
prevention and environmental planning methodologies in China	 	
�z 	Activity 4: Applying and testing of risk reduction and environmental planning 
framework	 	
�z 	Activity 5: Revise risk reduction and p	lanning framework	 	
�z 	Activity 6: Training and Study in Environmental Planning and Economic 
Modeling	 	
�z 	Activity 7: Policy recommendations for a national framework	 	
�z 	Activity 8: Dissemination	 	
�z 	Activity 9: Management. 	 	
Figure 1 is a flow chart of the activities. Amon	g the activities	 the policy recommendation 	
activity 	is an important 	task	 and outcome of this project, mainly aiming to offer good 	
experience and advice	 and	 systematically make suggestions on strengthening the 	
national	-level environmental risk 	reduction	, th	us promoting 	improved environmental 	
risk reduction in environmental planning in China	.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
10 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
 	
Fig. 1 Flow Chart of Project Activities	 	
Source: 	Inception Report	 of the 	Sino	-Norwegian project	 “Planning for Cost	-effective 	
Environmental Risk Reduction in China	”. 	
Th	e policy recommendation	s in this 	report	 are	 primarily based upon such outcomes as 	
the baseline research report, international experience report, 	methodological 	
framework 	and pilot report	s from applying the methodological framework	. In addition, 	
the discuss	ions between Chinese and Norwegian experts, feedback from the training 	
activity, and results of questionnaires during the project implementation are also 
important source	s for	 the policy recommendation	s. 	
The study of f	oreign experience shows that a sound 	legal system is a fundamental 	
guarantee for effectively preventing environmental risks, a well	-established 	
environmental risk management system ensures the efficient implementation of various 
measures, and the basic technological capability plays an import	ant supporting role in 	
preventing environmental risks. Lessons from the pilot application can be found mainly 
in the environmental risk assessment, data acquisition, risk management measures, and 
cost benefit analysis. 	 	
The policy recommendation in this 	do	cument	 mainly includes four major aspects, i.e. 	
improving the system of laws and regulations, improving the management system, 
strengthening the institution building, and intensifying the supporting capacity building, 
with concrete corresponding suggestions made	 on the basis of 	the 	current situation and 	
problem analysis. 	 	
Phase	I	
Baseline 	
Assessment	
International 
Best 	Practice
Methodological	Framework	
Test and 	Revise	Framework	
Policy 	Recommendations	Improved	Planning 	Capacity	
Training

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	11	 	
2.	 Learn	ing	 from International Experience	 	
The report 	Tackling environmental risks with environmental planning: international 	
experiences	 is an important outcome of this project, aiming to learn 	abo	ut 	laws, 	
regulations and policy measures from EU and US in reducing acute and accumulated 
environmental risks, and provide experience and lessons for China. Foreign experience 
shows that a sound legal system is a fundamental guarantee for effectively preve	nting 	
environmental risks, a well	-established environmental risk management system ensures 	
the efficient implementation of various measures, and the basic technological capability 
plays an important supporting role in preventing environmental risks. 	 	
2.1	 A sou	nd legal system is a fundamental guarantee for 	
effectively preventing environmental risks	 	
Foreign laws 	and regulations 	contained in the international experience report include 	
the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)	, EU 	Water Framework Directive	 (WFD),	 EU 	
REACH	, The 	EU 	Seveso	 Directives	, EU 	Habitats Directive	, US Superfund Act and OSPAR 	
Convention. These directives and convention	s are designed to provide at the 	
international	 or national level a legal basis for any policy and behavior preventing and 	
tack	ling acute and accumulated environmental risks. 	 	
For 	trans	-boundary	 environmental risks of water, the experience from	 the EU’s Water 	
Framework Directive 	with	 respect 	to	 setting water environment quality and risk 	
prevention goals and the implementation, sup	ervision and evaluation of measures in all 	
countries by using the river basin management planning could be useful for China to 
learn from. 	 	
For the prevention and control of environmental risks of chemicals, the 	EU	 REACH	 is 	
deemed groundbreaking in a globa	l context, placing the responsibility for the safe 	
management of the risks of chemicals on the industry, and encouraging enterprises to 
apply risk reduction measures from an early 	stage of	 the life cycle of the substance 	
concerned. The REACH also sets out 	common rules to handle environmental risks from 	
the production, use and disposal of chemicals and of products containing hazardous 
substances. 	 	
For the prevention of risks from accidents in industry plants, an important lesson from 
the 	EU 	Seveso	 Directives	 is that the overall guideline on land use and emergency 	
preparedness is important for preventing environmental risks	. There should be 	
environmental risk assessment, focus should be placed on the safety management 
system for whole establishments instead of	 technical units within an establishment, 	
emphasis should be placed on the domino effect	 (one incident leading to another)	, and 	
penalties imposed in the event of noncompliance. 	 	
The 	EU 	Habitats Directive	 could be useful for China to learn from as it impose	s an 	
ecological red line for preserving biodiversity on the basis of regional risk assessment 
and management in order to reduce ecological risks related to a decline in biodiversity 
and loss of species.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
12	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
2.2	 A well	-established environmental risk management sys	tem 	
ensures the efficient implementation of various measures	 	
An	 environmental risk management system is a key for ensuring that relevant laws are 	
adequately implemented and practically solving environmental risk problems. The US 
Superfund management system	, EU and US climate	-friendly air quality management 	
system, 	the 	APELL	 system promoted by UNEP for use in developing countries	, 	
management experience from the EU chemical industry parks, and management 
experience from the Rhine River Basin give useful exper	ience 	for	 different 	problems	 	
such as contaminated sites, air quality, pollution accidents, and river basin	 water quality 	
management	. 	
The US Superfund management system involves experience in the site assessment 
system and techniques, priorit	ies	, and 	assessment of financing mode	s for any clean	-up 	
action, especially the management strategy for large contaminated sites and 
complicated groundwater pollution control, which is useful for China to learn from. 
Useful experience from the EU and US 	with	 respect	 to	 a climate	-friendly air quality 	
management system mainly lies in the source control, market means, co	-control, and 	
encouraging enterprises to develop long	-term plans. The APELL method aims to 	
enhance the risk awareness in an industrialized community, ma	king	 the enterprises, 	
local governments and residents prepared for coordination, so as to reduce risks and 
mitigate damage. The experience from the EU chemical industrial parks shows that top 
priority should be given to the identification of managerial rul	es and responsibilities for 	
safety and emergencies, and 	comprehensive (all round)	 risk management should be 	
promoted	 to ensure 	that 	emergency preparation 	is 	fully 	implemented	 inside	 parks	, and 	
ensure a safe distance from the residential area. 	 	
Managemen	t experience from the Rhine River Basin that is useful for the management 	
of river	-basin	-wide water environmental risks includes: performing risk investigation 	
and assessment, 	identifying	 environmental risks at the sub	-regional/provincial level and 	
river b	asin level, including 	discharges	 and water use, identifying the key areas including 	
the water sources; setting the environmental goals for waters based on the types and 
functions of waters; assessing the effect of current laws and measures, 	and 	determining	 	
the gap between the current measures and environmental goals	. Moreover, useful 	
experiences include	 identifying the measures to be implemented at the river basin 	level 	
and sub	-river basin levels in order to handle accumulated and acute risks, developing 	
co	st-effective measures and plans through 	analysis and 	exchanging ideas with main 	
stakeholders, reaching a consensus, and establishing a collaboration mechanism; 	while 	
keeping the process open and transparent, with all data available to the public. 	 	
2.3	 The basi	c technological capability plays an important 	
supporting role in preventing environmental risks	 	
It took a long time to enact and implement the systems and tools such as the Industrial 
Emissions Directive, 	the 	Water Framework Directive, Integrated River Basin 	
Management in the transnational Rhine River Basin	，	US superfund site risk 	
management, 	and the 	Seveso	 Directive	s. The basic technological capability was 	
highlighted and played an important role in risk identi	fication, assessment and handling 	
in different fields.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	13	 	
The Industrial Emissions Directive emphasizes the screening of available technologies, 
providing basic methods for 	regulating 	environmental risks from industrial sources on 	
the basis of	 the Best Avail	able Technology (BAT), focusing on the capability of 	emission 	
permit management to guarantee “best practice (best method)”. The setting of 
management goals, cost benefit analysis as well as monitoring and warning methods 
involved in the Water Framework Dir	ective and Rhine River Basin management are 	
useful for China to learn from. The US Superfund site risk assessment techniques and 
the National Priorities List (NPL) system for contaminated sites, the methods for 
assessing environmental risks in enterprises 	presented in the 	Seveso	 Directives, as well 	
as the methods for developing or preparing plans for responding to emergencies at local 
levels are highly useful for improving the environmental risk assessment and 	developing 	
emergency plan	s in Chinese enterprises.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
14	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
3.	 Lessons from the pilot application 	and test	 	
The pilot application and test of 	the risk reduction framework	 is an important content 	
of this project, and of great significance for building and improving the methodological 
framework 	at the national level. Four pilots, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Tongling and Anshun, 	
were involved starting from the initial building of 	the framework	. Experiences and 	
lessons	 from 	pilot application, problem discussion, and advice feedback, experience in 	
environment	al risk assessment, data acquisition, risk management measures, and cost 	
benefit analysis 	are	 useful for establishing efficient environmental risk prevent	ion	 	
system in China. 	 	
3.1	 Environmental risk assessment is a powerful tool for 
environmental management as	 well as environmental risk 	
prevention and control	 	
Since 	“environmental risk prevention	” was included in the main tasks in China’s national 	
12	th Five	-year Plan for environmental protection, China has done a lot in the field of 	
environmental risk assessment	, including the formulation of the Guidelines on 	
Environmental Risk Assessment 	of Enterprises (Tentative) which link	s environmental risk 	
assessment 	of an enterprise 	to 	its	 environmental emergency plan, and the requirement 	
in the Administrative Measures for	 Contingency Plan for Environmental Emergencies for 	
corporate and regional environmental risk assessment. In the wake of the step	-by	-step 	
progress of corporate environmental risk assessment and the reflection on the typical 
accidents in recent years such a	s the “Blast in Dalian on Jul. 7”, and “Blast in Tianjin on 	
Aug.12”, research and administrative personnel have had an increasingly thorough 
awareness about environmental risks. In the pilot area	s, it is also widely believed that 	
the environmental risk ass	essment is an important tool for identifying environmental 	
risk problems and effectively performing environmental risk prevention and control. 	 	
As 	a foundation of environmental risk management, environmental risk assessment has 	
four functions: first, it pr	ovides 	diagnos	is, that is, the assessment provides systematic 	
analysis and identification of the type, distribution and degree of environmental risk; 
second, it provides 	optimized decision making	, that is, the assessment offers advice on 	
environmental risk	 prevention and control for decision makers to implement priority 	
managements; third, it gives 	guidance	, that is, the horizontal and vertical comparison of 	
assessment results may guide the reduction of environmental risk level in high	-risk 	
areas; fourth, i	t provides 	knowledge	, that is, the assessment may lead to improved 	
awareness of environmental risks, environmental risk problems can be identified and 
the capability of environmental risk management can be improved through the 
assessment. 	 	
3.2	 Data acquisition	 is the weakest part of the environmental 	
risk assessment and management 	 	
In the 7	-step regional environmental risk assessment method	 proposed by this project	 	
the method regarding the assessment of regional acute and accumulated environmental 
risks involve	s many kinds of assessment indicators, including the risk source, receptor,

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	15	 	
exposure pathway, managerial capability, etc. Though the 7	-step method explicitly has 	
explained how and where to obtain the data, and how to handle the missing data, data 
acquisiti	on was still the most prominent problem and difficulty reported from the pilot 	
areas where regional environmental risk assessment was performed. 	 	
Existing data mainly involves the emission	s of main pollutants as well as the quality of 	
water and 	air	. These 	data are clearly insufficient for the implementation of systematic 	
environmental risk assessment and management. 	For many pollutants 	no monitoring 	
data and environmental quality standards are available. For example, there’s no soil 
environment quality 	data	 available	. There are no	t sufficient data 	for	 production, use, 	
storage and marketing of environmental risk substances. At the same time, existing data 
are relatively scattered, 	and 	not integrated effectively. Many data are scattered in 	
different authoritie	s, such as environmental protection, safety supervision, 	
transportation, and health authorities. There’s 	not enough 	data sharing among different 	
authorities. In addition, in the pilot process it was found that local environmental 
protection authorities had	 no systematic and institutional 	procedures for management 	
of relevant data	, and	 no integrated application of data. 	 	
3.3	 No	t sufficient knowledge about the environmental risk 	
prevention, control and emergency response measures 	 	
Building an 	evidence based 	syste	m 	for	 environmental risk prevention, control and 	
response measures is a basic goal and fundamental part of environmental risk 
management. How to present environmental risk prevention, control and response 
measures that meet the local reality by effectively	 using the assessment results was the 	
focus of discussion in the pilot process. This part was 	described as 	very weak in the first 	
draft of the initial pilot report. 	 	
At present, though high attention is paid to environmental risk prevention at the 
nationa	l and local levels, environmental risk prevention is not sufficiently understood in 	
many areas. The understanding of environmental risk prevention, control and response 
measures 	usually	 focuses on a specific “hardware” or “software”, with no systematic, 	
co	mprehensive and hierarchical understanding. In the pilot areas, many	 of the	 staff	 did 	
not know how to clearly list the possible environmental risk prevention, control and 
contingency measures. The measures set out in some reports were either incomplete or 
overlapping.	 	
3.4	 Fundamental research and 	increased 	application of cost	-	
benefit analysis 	(CBA) 	is urgent	ly	 need	ed	 	
The “efficient” side of this project lies in solving environmental risk problems 	using 	
measures 	with low cost and high benefit. The application 	of CBA method is one of the 	
highlighted research topics in 	the	 project, and cases were devised to offer training in the 	
pilot areas. Through methodology and case training, the concept, method and 
application level of CBA improved significantly in the pilot	 areas. But in the four pilot 	
areas, the cost benefit part of the environmental risk management measures 	is not yet 	
ideal. 	In most cases	 it was eas	ier	 to estimate the cost or expense	 than t	o quantify or

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
16	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
monetize the benefit, which was largely described 	in qualitative 	terms	. Even some costs 	
were difficult to estimate and unrealistic estimates were not uncommon.	 	
This is a widespread problem in the environmental risk management, and even in the 
environmental management 	at national level	. Main reasons for this 	problem may 	
include: first, the CBA method is not completely included in the government’s 
environmental protection decision making system. In practice, the government tends to 
focus on the costs or 	on the 	direct 	investment. Most cost	-benefit analyses are l	imited to 	
the assessment of reduced pollutant emission or concentration, with no quantitative 
analysis of environmental 	(risk reduction) 	benefits; second, most cost	-benefit analyses 	
focus on analyzing or evaluating the cost 	and 	benefit of a single environm	ental 	measure	 	
such as environmental engineering or 	an abatement 	project, instead of analyzing the 	
comprehensive cost	 and	 benefits of an environmental policy; there are no sufficient 	
data and typical cases available for CBA. As a whole, it is hard to quanti	fy the rationality, 	
effectiveness and economics of the measures.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	17	 	
4.	 Main policy recommendations	 	
4.1	 Improv	e the laws and regulations system 	 	
4.1.1 	Strengthen	 the legislation	 	
As the revised Environmental Protection Law has come into effect, a legal system on 
envir	onmental protection has 	been established	 in China. This includes the 	
Environmental Protection Law, the Emergency Response Law, the Law on Prevention 
and Control of Atmospheric Pollution, the Law on Prevention and Control of Water 
Pollution, the Law on Prev	ention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, 	
and the Law on Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution. Many of these laws have 
included the principle of environmental risk prevention. At present, however, there are 
no special legal provis	ions concerning the prevention, control, tackling and handling of 	
environmental risks of major accidents, compensation for environmental damage,	 and	 	
prevention and control of soil pollution. 	Thus,	 there’s 	not enough	 and powerful legal 	
basis for 	local autho	rities and enterprises to do such kind of risk prevention and 	
reduction work.	 	
(1) Enact special laws and regulations concerning the prevention, control, response and 
handling of environmental risks of major accidents. These should be similar to the EU’s 
Seveso	 directives, specifying and detailing the enterprises’ environmental safety entity 	
responsibility, streamlining the administrative supervision functions of safety, 
environmental protection, transportation, public security and other authorities and 
ins	titutions involving work safety and environmental risks, establishing consistent and 	
independent systems 	for	 safety supervision and environmental risk prevention, control, 	
and 	response, and providing a powerful legal guarantee for forming consistent, rigor	ous 	
and efficient systems of safety supervision and environmental risk prevention, control	 	
and	 response.	 	
(2) Enact special laws and regulations concerning environmental management of 
chemicals. 	We should learn from the EU REACH, and base	 regulation 	on the 	source 	
prevention and control before the occurrence of damage of chemical substances to the 
health and environment	. We should	 regulate	 chemicals in their full life cycle from the 	
R&D, production, import, marketing, export, use, disuse to final disposal, en	act a series 	
of supporting regulations on chemical substance registration, hazard identification, 
environmental risk assessment, release and transfer control, phase	-out limitation, key 	
environmental risk source management, and lifetime pollution accountabi	lity system.	 	
(3) Enact a law 	for	 environmental damage compensation.	 Integrate 	ecological 	
environment damage into the 	assessment and 	compensation 	of ecological 	destruction	 	
and	 environmental pollution; define the limit, entity and mode of compensation for 	
ec	ological environment damage, and the like. We should improve the environmental 	
prosecution system, and prescribe the litigation subject causing the personal or property 
damage, causality recognition, limit of compensation, responsibility sharing, and 
manag	ement of compensation in the tort liability law, civil procedure law, 	
administrative procedure law, and relevant judicial interpretation. There should be

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
18	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
more channels for settling disputes of environmental damage compensation in order to 
safeguard the law	ful rights and interests of the affected persons in good time. 	 	
(4) Introduc	e a law on soil environment protection. 	China should promulgate 	
provisions on environmental administration of contaminated 	soil	, develop regulations 	
on environmental protection of 	arable soil, and control of environmental risks of soil on 	
new construction land. When revising such laws and regulations as the law on 
prevention and control of water pollution	; law on prevention and control of atmospheric 	
pollution	; and law on prevention	 and control of solid waste, provisions on soil 	
environment protection should be added in order to consider the soil environment 
protection and the prevention and control of atmospheric and water pollution as a 
whole. Local laws and regulations on soil env	ironment protection should be enacted, 	
promulgated and implemented. 	 	
(5) Enact a law on ecological protection. 	China should include the ecological system 	
management, natural resource development, and ecological compensation into laws, 
specify the objects, 	principle of ecological protection, as well as the subjects and objects 	
of law enforcement in China	. China should	 research and enact	 regulations on ecological 	
red line protection, and boost the process of ecological red line legislation so as to 
solidify t	he position of ecological red line protection with laws and regulations.	 	
4.1.2 	Intensify law enforcement	 	
Supervis	e law enforcement is an important part of environmental 	protection	. Slack law 	
enforcement and refraining from punishing the law	-breakers have a	lways been a 	
difficulty	 for implementing the laws and regulations related to environmental 	
protection, practically improving the environmental quality, and effectively preventing 
and controlling the environmental risks. The newly revised “toothy” Environme	ntal 	
Protection Law provides a powerful basis and tool for environmental law enforcement. 
For example, it includes 	language	 such as “seal up”, “detain”, and “penalty on 	a daily 	
basis”. However, if 	one wants	 to fundamentally reverse the situation of slack l	aw 	
enforcement, it is necessary to intensify the implementation and supervision of existing 
laws, intensify joint law enforcement, and establish a long	-term	 environmental 	
protection supervision system.	 	
(1) Strengthen the implementation and supervision of existing laws. 	We should 	
strengthen the enforcement of existing laws and regulations, boost capacity building of 
environmental supervision law enforcement, improve the law enforcement officers’ 
service c	apability and comprehensive quality, strengthen the information disclosure, 	
publicity and education, and enhance the public’s enthusiasm and effectiveness of 
participation in the supervision of law enforcement. 	 	
(2) Strengthen the 	unified	 and 	coordinated	 law enforcement.	 Build a proper regional 	
environmental supervision network, coordinate the environmental law enforcement 
efforts 	between	 provinces and 	related 	municipalities, provide a consistent scale for 	
environmental protection supervision law enforcemen	t, establish a consistent system 	
for handling administrative cases of environmental protection, standardize the 
environmental law enforcement procedures and instruments, strengthen the linked law 
enforcement by multiple authorities, establish a linkage mec	hanism for law

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	19	 	
enforcement by multiple authorities, and create an efficient composite force of law 
enforcement by moving forward the gateway of environmental law enforcement.	 	
(3) Establishing a 	sustainable	 environmental protection supervision system.	 Stric	tly 	
carry out the Plans for Supervision of Environmental Protection (Tentative), detail and 
fix the key objects, key things, scheduling, organizational form and implementation 
measures of supervision, and use the supervision of environmental protection as 	a long	-	
acting system tool for strictly fulfilling the responsibility of environmental protection 
subjects, improving the leaders’ target responsibility check	-up system, and investigating 	
the leadership and regulatory responsibilities. 	 	
4.2	 Improv	e the 	environmental governance	 system	 	
4.2.1 Establish an environmental risk	-based decision making system	 	
So far, an environmental risk	-based decision	-making system has not yet been 	
established in 	China	 and the environmental risk assessment has not been 	
comprehen	sively and substantively incorporated into the planning process of significant 	
strategies. In addition, the environmental management mechanism is segmented, 
making it hard to cope with a variety of environmental risks. Although the term 
“environmental risk	 prevention” was mentioned in the 12th 5	-year economic and social 	
development plan and in some development strategies, it is still in a relatively weak 
position	 compared with economic development. 	Actually, the major strategies and 	
plans only contain a pri	ncipal requirement to prevent environmental risk. There is still a 	
lack of specific tools such as environmental risk assessment to use when determining 
how to implement such strategies and plans. 	 	
(1) Develop a national environmental risk protection strate	gy and roadmap.	 Relevant 	
departments should conduct 	short	-term	, middle	- and long	-term environmental risk 	
assessment and work out an effective environmental risk control roadmap during the 
modernization process of the State, especially the process of constr	ucting an all	-round 	
well	-off society, of new	-style urbanization, of implementing the “one belt and one road” 	
strategy, of achieving the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and of 
constructing Yangtze River economic zone, etc. 	 	
(2) Incorpo	rat	e the environmental risk assessment and management into the decision	-	
making process of governments at all levels.	 The environmental risks should be taken 	
into account by authorities in making and implementing policies and departmental, 
regional and urba	n plans that might affect the human health or environment	al quality 	
or the integrity of the ecosystem. Relevant departments shall earnestly implement the 
Measures for Holding Party Leaders Accountable for Ecological/ Environmental 
Damages (trial), and esta	blish sound supporting systems for implementing detail	ed	 rules 	
prepared by party committees and governments at all levels and relevant functional 
departments of the State Council. 	 	
4.2.1.1	 4.	2.2 Unify the national environmental supervision systems and 	
mechanisms	 	
The decentralized ecological environment	al monitoring system	 is contributing to the 	
low efficiency of environmental risk prevention and control in China. The monitoring

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
20	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
and supervision departments in environmental protection, forestry, fishery, agriculture,	 	
marine and other industries, have function overlaps. Some fields are subject to 
management of multiple departments and some are subject to none. In addition, plans 
of different departments concerning spatial control	 and	 ecological/environmental 	
protection	 are not well coordinated and integrated. It is urgent to unify the supervision 	
and control by coordinating functions.	 	
(1) Coordinat	e 	governmenta	l functions.	 Authorities should coordinate functions of 	
environmental protection	 in forestry, fishery, agricult	ure, marine and other industries 	
in terms of pollution prevention and environment	al protection. Efforts should be made 	
to establish relevant environmental risk assessment systems, technical systems and 
national environmental risk pre	-warning systems involv	ing all elements and 	
departments at all levels.	 	
(2) Unify supervision 	system	. Violators causing environmental pollution or ecological 	
destruction should be subject to 	a unified	 supervision system, which integrates 	land and 	
marine	, air, water and soil prote	ction	 in a coordinated way	 between	 different 	
departments and regions. The environmental safety should also 	be 	included into the 	
government performance evaluation mechanism.	 	
(3) Promot	e 	multiple	–plan	 	coordination	. 	Relevant departments should 	
comprehensively assess the environmental risks, environmental risk control costs and 
benefits of integrated plans, identify the priority area	s and dominant risks in 	
environmental risk management and specify the red line of ecol	ogical conservation in 	
such plans.	 	
4.2.	3 Improv	e environmental risk management means	 	
At present, the environmental risk management in 	China	 is mainly conducted by 	
following orders. The adoption of economic means in environmental management is still 
at an e	arly and exploratory stage. First, 	there is a 	lack of legal basis for mandatory 	
implementation. For example, to stress the pollution liability, the new Environmental 
Protection Law only 	encourages	 entities to buy the environmental pollution liability 	
insur	ance; Second, the value of environmental resources has not been widely accepted 	
by the existing economic system, and the environmental economic means are not well 
integrated into the existing corporate environmental liability system, which has 
hindered the	 adoption of financial means in environmental risk management. 	 	
(1) Speed up the construction of the environmental pollution liability insurance 
system.	 Authorities should clearly define the position of the environmental disruption 	
liability insurance in l	aws and regulations, and force high risk industries to buy the 	
insurance, and prepare a technical guide in classifying the enterprise environmental 
risks, determining the premium rate, assessing losses and setting the compensation 
standard, so as to provid	e technical support to the perfection and comprehensive 	
implementation of the environmental risk liability insurance system. 	 	
(2) Establish a green financial system.	 Efforts should be made to speed up the 	
construction of a green financial system in accorda	nce with the Overall Ecological 	
Civilization System Reform Plan, and based on the green credit interest subsidy

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	21	 	
mechanism, green project guarantee mechanism and green securities, to guide 
enterprises to actively cope with environmental risks.	 	
(3) Establish	 an	 environmental risk prevention and control fund.	 The central 	
government should promote the establishment of 	an	 environmental risk prevention and 	
control fund, including the environmental emergency response fund and the 
contaminated site remediation fund	, and select key industries and regions to conduct 	
pilot projects. A special fund management system should also be established and 
gradually improved.	 	
4.2.4 Improv	e the corporate environmental liability system	 	
Industrial enterprises in China 	generally 	have	 a low awareness of environmental liability. 	
Their deliberate violation of laws is one of the main causes of environmental risks. Some 
enterprises 	purely pursue economic benefits; some are engaged in the production or 	
processing of dangerous chemicals, wit	h aged equipment, poor management and 	
insufficient input in environmental protection. The environmental risk prevention and 
emergency management systems and facilities are either incomplete or formalistic, with 
huge environmental security loopholes. Moreov	er, there are no sufficient measures to 	
guide and urge enterprises to fulfill their environmental liabilities either through 
markets or the information disclosure mechanism. In terms of environmental 
management, how to improve the law compliance of enterpr	ises remains a long	-term 	
challenge.	 	
(1) Improv	e the law compliance guarantee system.	 Relevant departments should sort 	
out rights and obligations of enterprises, governments and the public in the whole 
process of environmental risk identification, assessmen	t, pre	-warning and emergency 	
response, to provide a legal basis for all work to be carried out in environmental risk 
prevention and control. Laws and regulations governing the environmental criminal 
liability prosecution and civil compensation should be pe	rfected to severely punish 	
violators and fully embody the deterrent effect of law and to enhance the environmental 
risk prevention awareness and motivation of enterprises. 	 	
(2) Optimiz	e administrative management.	 The concept of risk prevention should be 	
effectively integrated into the existing environmental management system to improve 
such systems as environmental standards, environmental impact assessment and 
pollution discharge licensing system that aim to protect human health and the 
environment. Autho	rities should introduce a classified and hierarchical management 	
system to enterprises, strengthen the supervision over high	-risk enterprises and 	
encourage capable enterprises to adopt higher level risk prevention standards and 
explore a certification syst	em applicable to enterprises' environmental management 	
system. A series of incentive and punishment policies concerning investment, credit, tax, 
land, market access and government procurement, among others, may be adopted by 
making full use of the policy a	nd economic leverage, to encourage leading enterprises 	
to actively establish an environmental risk liability system and to promote the 
construction of the third	-party service market.	 	
(3) Promot	e the environmental information disclosure of enterprises.	 Effo	rts should 	
be made to earnestly implement the Measures for Environmental Information

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
22	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
Disclosure of Enterprises and Institutions that require enterprises to timely and 
accurately disclose relevant environmental information, encourage and guide the public 
to	 play their supervision role by reasonably and effectively participating in the 	
environmental risk management and control of enterprises; develop and implement 
regulations that require enterprises to include the environmental risk information 
disclosure in	to their financial report required by China Securities Regulatory 	
Commission. Through introducing the mandatory environmental risk information 
disclosure system, authorities can make the environmental risk management an 
important factor influencing the fin	ancing of listed enterprises, so as to turn the 	
environmental risk management of such enterprises into their intrinsic, conscious and 
proactive behavior.	 	
4.3	 Strengthen the 	construction of 	system	s and 	mechanism	s 	
4.3.	1 Improv	e the multi	-level environmental risk	 assessment system	 	
At present, subject to the economic and social development and natural resources, the 
environmental risks in 	China	 boast significant regional features. For example, areas 	
around Bohai	 Sea	 and along Yangtze River have a high density of ch	emical enterprises, 	
and thus are at high risk of chemical accidents	. Hunan	 and	 Guangxi, among others, have 	
long seen massive mining, processing and smelting of non	-ferrous metals, and thus are 	
at high risk of environmental pollution by heavy metals. 	A lot 	of work has been do	ne	 in 	
the area of environmental risk assessment, including the preparation of the Guide to 
Environmental Risk Assessment of Enterprises (draft) that links the environmental risk 
assessment with enterprises’ environmental emergency plan. In the Measures for 
Coping with Environmental Emergencies, the environmental risk assessment by 
enterprises at the regional level are explicitly required.	 	
However, the environment risk assessment by enterprises has not yet been fully carried 
out; not all high	-risk enterprises	 are 	fully covered; the environment	al risk assessment 	
methods encountered some obstacles in actual application; relevant plans and policies 
lag behind the construction projects and the environmental risk assessment; the 
environmental risk assessment is not 	included in assessments already conducted, 	
resulting in insufficient consideration given to environmental risks in the process of 
making big decisions; the current regulations concerning regional environmental risk 
assessment just play a disciplinary role;	 without mandatory regulations, the local 	
governments are not fully activated and lack technical guideline	s to conduct such 	
assessment. 	 	
(1) Boost the environmental assessment by enterprises.	 Authorities should apply the 	
classif	ication	 and 	graded	 management mechanism to all 	the	 risk enterprises and	 	
improve the risk assessment methods. The environmental risk prevention and 
emergency response capabilities should be effectively incorporated into the 
environmental risk assessment system of enterprises	 to comprehensively and 	
objectively reflect the level of environmental risks under the condition of effective 
prevention and control. Enterprises should be guided and encouraged to achieve higher 
goals while completing the environmental protection task in 	compliance with laws and 	
regulations.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	23	 	
(2) 	Highlight	 environmental risk assessment in plans and policies	. The environmental 	
risk assessment and management should be included in polic	y-making	 of governments 	
at all levels	, and the	 Seven	-step Framework propose	d by this project could be used for 	
environmental risk assessment and reduction 	decision	-making at prefecture and 	
province level based on county level data. 	During the process of making various plans 	
and policies (concerning energy, industry, traffic and r	egional development), the State 	
and relevant departments must consider the environmental risk assessment as an 
important factor, especially when the implementation of such plans or policies might 
affect vulnerable groups, to further safeguard human health 	and ecological safety and 	
to promote the application of the 	cost	-benefit 	analysis 	(CBA) and 	strategic environment 	
assessment (SEA) methods. 	 	
(3) 	Accelerate	 the regional environmental risk assessment.	 Efforts should be made to 	
boost the preparation of the r	egional environmental risk assessment norms. Authorities 	
should set the environmental risk assessment as a prerequisite for compiling the 
regional environmental plans and emergency plans by combining the restrictive rules 
with guiding policies. 	Based on th	e Seven	-step approach and other research outcomes, 	
the technical guide to regional environmental risk assessment should be 	introduced	 as 	
soon as possible. Regions with distinctive risk characteristics and geographical features 
should be selected to conduct	 pilot projects.	 	
4.	3.2 Improv	e the effectiveness of environmental risk prevention and 	
emergency measures	 	
Environmental risk prevention has just been advocated by the central government for a 
couple of years. Many 	local authorities 	are not fully aware of th	e concept, lacking 	a 	
systematic, comprehensive and deep understanding of environmental risk prevention 
and control and emergency response measures. This 	was	 particularly true for 	the 	pilot 	
provinces and cities	, in which people generally 	did not 	know how to	 clearly list the 	
potential environmental risk prevention and emergency response measures.	 	
It is hard to quantify the rationality and effectiveness of environmental protection 
measures. There are fewer quantitative data about environmental benefits and few	er 	
application cases. The cost	-benefit analysis method has not been 	fully 	included in the 	
governments’ environmental protection investment and policy making framework.	 	
There are no guidelines for how to conduct such analyses	, and 	the current research 	
metho	ds 	do not take into account issues like 	fairness	 and inequalities in risk exposures	. 	
In addition, the cost	-benefit analyses of environmental policies are few. People mainly 	
focus on the cost	-benefit analyses or assessment of individual environmental projec	ts, 	
instead of environmental policies, which are far more extensive and complex, and thus 
are more worthy of cost	-benefit analyses.	 	
(1) Develop a guid	eline	 or technical guide for environmental risk prevention and 	
control and emergency measures.	 Relevant departments should strengthen the study 	
of effectiveness of environmental risk prevention and control and response measures, 
and systematically sort out relevant measures specified in laws and regulations, and 
figure out their purpose, function a	nd effectiveness, as well as establish a system of 	
classified and hierarchical measures. While issuing a guide	line	 or technical guide to 	
regulate the environmental risk prevention and control measures and emergency

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
24	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
responses of local governments and enterp	rises, the central government should guide 	
them 	on how 	to take effective measures.	 	
(2) Strengthen cost	-benefit 	analysis	 of 	environmental risk prevention and control.	 	
Relevant departments should strengthen the cost	-benefit analyses, improve the 	
understandin	g of and attach greater importance to such analyses. While improv	e the 	
acknowledge	ment	 of the economic, social, biological and environmental benefits of 	
environmental risk prevention and control, relevant departments should focus on 
environmental managemen	t, raise the awareness of relevant costs among 	
environmental management and planning personnel, improve the economy and 
efficiency of government investments and invest limited resources in priority areas. A 
guideline should be developed for cost	-benefit ac	counting in environmental risk 	
management, including cost	-benefit accounting in individual projects and the cost	-	
benefit accounting in integrated projects, so as to develop and implement the 
environmental risk control measures in a more effective manner. P	ilot projects should 	
be conducted to explore relevant techniques and systems.	 	
4.3.	3 Speed up the establishment of the environmental damage 	
assessment, compensation and accountability mechanisms	 	
Although China has seen the rapid progress of the environmenta	l damage assessment 	
over the past few years and the central government has confirmed its position in laws 
and regulations and pointed out the direction, the construction of the whole system has 
just started. The technical system is incomplete; the number, 	capacity and quality of 	
assessment agencies are inadequate, and relevant supporting systems need to be 
further improved. The environmental damage compensation system is lagging behind, 
without clear compensation contents, form and procedures. In addition, 	the 	
accountability mechanisms of governments and enterprises are defective. 	 	
(1) Improv	e the environmental damage assessment system	. Relevant departments 	
should earnestly implement the Environmental Protection Law and improve the 
environmental damage asses	sment system, as well as perfect the environmental 	
damage assessment technical system. Efforts should also be made to establish a 
supporting environmental damage forensic assessment system to promote the 
standardized assessments and specify the capital sou	rce; establish a special fund for this 	
purpose, and include the environmental damage assessment costs during law 
enforcement and in criminal cases into the government budget.	 	
(2) Promot	e the environmental damage compensation system.	 New means, such as 	
fina	ncial, monetary and taxation means should be exploited to facilitate the 	
diversification of modes of assuming the environmental damage compensation liability. 
Pilot projects shall be conducted locally to initially form a compensation system oriented 
toward	s pollution remediation and ecological restoration. 	 	
(3) Improv	e the accountability mechanism.	 The legal, economic, technical and 	
administrative means may be combined to further specify and 	effectively cause 	
enterprises to fulfill their liability in enviro	nmental safety and regulate their 	
environmental safety behaviors. The planning, project approval, regulatory 
responsibilities, among others, involved in the environmental risk management should

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	25	 	
be expressly specified, and functions of all departments invol	ved in environmental risk 	
prevention and control, including the environmental protection, security, 
transportation, public safety and environmental impact assessment, pollution 
prevention, environmental monitoring, environmental supervision and environment	al 	
emergency departments, should be straightened out. Relevant departments should 
regulate the contents of environmental damages to human body	, properties or 	
ecological value and relevant procedures, establish and improve the ecological 
environmental damag	e lifelong accountability system, and strictly implement the 	
ecological environment damage compensation system. 	 	
4.3.	4 Improv	e the chemical	-induced environmental risk management and 	
control system	 	
Large amounts of chemicals are produced, transported, store	d and used in China. 	
Different participants have different technological levels. Some enterprises have rather 
backward technology, and many chemical transportation routes are located in 
residential areas or environmentally sensitive areas such as upstream 	of water intake. 	
Other problems are: the chemical supervision system is defective; the supporting 
standards or norms are incomplete; a full life cycle management system is not yet 
established; and the chemical priority control and inventory management lags	 behind.	 	
(1) Establish a sound priority control and chemical inventory system.	 Based on the 	
environmental and health risk assessment of toxic and harmful chemical substances, 
relevant departments should generate a list of chemicals that should be restricte	d and 	
eliminated, and strictly follow the list of substances that are restricted in production, 
distribution and consumption as well as the regulatory requirements.	 	
(2) Establish a full life cycle management system for chemicals	. Efforts should be made 	
to 	accelerate the establishment of the hazardous chemical	 management	 system 	
including 	environmental risk assessment	, registration, release and transfer report 	
system and labeling, to establish and improve measures to monitor chemicals and their 
particular pol	lutants under key environmental supervision, to enhance the capability of 	
environmental protection departments at all levels in monitoring particular chemical 
pollutants and to perfect the management system.	 	
(3) Establish a toxic and 	hazardous	 substance re	lease inventory system.	 The inventory 	
should be established 	based on data reported by enterprises and by using the 	
monitoring, statistical systems of environmental protection, safety supervision	, 	
transport 	and other relevant 	departments, 	and should also be	 disclose	d to the public	, 	
which can	 provide a base for deciding the 	toxic 	and 	hazardous	 substance environmental 	
risk prevention and control measures and emergency responses.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
26	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
4.4	 Enhanc	e data collection, application and dissemination	 	
supporting capacity	 	
4.4.1 	Improv	e the environmental risk monitoring, statistics and data 	
application management systems	 	
Through the development over the past decades, China has established relatively sound 
environmental monitoring, supervision and statistical systems. The quantity,	 coverage 	
and quality of environmental data have greatly improved, enabling the environmental 
management to be conducted in a more effective and scientific manner. However, 
compared with traditional concepts and methods of environmental management, the 
ris	k prevention	-based environmental management 	require	s more data and data with 	
higher quality	. The existing data are unable to support the environmental risk 	
assessment and management in a comprehensive and efficient manner.	 	
The existing data available for e	nvironmental risk assessment and management in 	China	 	
cannot meet the requirements either in term of “quantity” or “quality	”. The existing 	
data are mainly about the discharge of major pollutants and the quality of water and air. 
Monitoring data about many p	ollutants and environmental quality are unavailable, 	
including data about the quality of soil environment, and data about the production, 
usage, storage and distribution of substances imposing environmental risks. This 
problem 	was	 prominent in pilot 	provin	ces and cities	 in the process of conducting 	
environmental risk assessment. Moreover, the existing data are separated and not well 
organized. Many data are held by different departments, such as the environmental 
protection, safety, transport and health dep	artments, and are not sufficiently shared. In 	
addition, the quality of such data is low or 	difficult	 to assess. The quality of some 	
environmental 	monitoring	 data is questioned or cannot be verified.	 	
(1) Build a national integrated environmental monitoring 	network.	 Relevant 	
environmental monitoring stations should be integrated, and data 	from	 different 	
departments and different regions, including the environmental protection, safety, 
transport, health, land and marine departments, should be shared. To achiev	e this, a 	
unified national environmental risk database (platform) should be established to 
enhance the data utilization efficiency. The environmental monitoring in key regions and 
key drainage basins, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, Yangtze River Delta	 and	 Pearl 	
River Delta should be subject to unified planning, management, standard and disclosure. 
A new environmental monitoring pattern featuring three	-dimensional environmental 	
perception, synergic and high	-efficient management and integrated internal a	nd 	
external services should be built by making full use of new	-generation information 	
technology, such as mega data, cloud computing, Internet of Things and mobile Internet 
and by resorting to the instrumented, interconnected and intelligent means. The key	 	
area environmental quality management agency should be established.	 	
(2) Enhanc	e the environmental risk monitoring and statistical capacity.	 While 	
expanding the coverage of the general survey, ad hoc survey and on	-line monitoring 	
conducted by the central g	overnment	 and	 relevant departments should speed up the 	
construction of the monitoring and statistical systems for particular pollutants with 
distinctive features of local environmental risks, establish an environmental risk 
prevention and control database 	and include it into the ecological civilization database,

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	27	 	
and press ahead with the research of methods and parameters concerning local health 
and ecological risks. 	 	
(3) Strengthen information disclosure.	 Relevant departments should strengthen the 	
informati	on disclosure and effectively include the environmental risk information into 	
the process of preparation and revision of the environmental information disclosure 
system in accordance with the requirements of “establishing a sound environmental 
information 	disclosure system” in the “basic systems for reform of environmental 	
governance” in the Recommendations for the 13th Five	-Year Plan for Economic and 	
Social Development issued by the Central Committee of CPC.	 	
4.4.2 Establish sound environmental risk forecas	ting and pre	-warning 	
systems	 	
The current descriptions of the environment are mainly about the overall emission 
reduction and environmental quality, 	which is 	unable to fully and effectively reflect 	
environmental risks. Environmental risk forecasting and pre	-warning systems at the 	
national level and targeting key fields and key regions are unavailable, resulting in the 
lack of pertinence and initiatives in environmental risk prevention and control. People 
are very passive 	in the 	face of high	-frequent environm	ental emergencies. In addition, 	
the systems for monitoring, guiding and addressing public opinions are defective, easily 
causing an environmental accident to evolve into a mass incident.	 	
(1) Conduct the national overall environmental risk assessment	. Based	 on 	
environmental risk monitoring and statistical management systems, 	and the Seven	-step 	
Framework suggested here, 	establish 	an 	assessment indicator framework, 	conduct 	
overall environmental risk assessment to comprehensively and objectively reflect the 
ris	k profile and conduct priority management in accordance with the type, distribution 	
and extent of environmental risks.	 	
(2) Establish environmental risk pre	-warning systems for key fields and key regions.	 	
Efforts should be made to speed up the establishment of the environmental risk 
forecasting and pre	-warning systems targeting drinking water sources, heavily polluted 	
water	, trans	-boundary river	s and	 basins, to accurately forecast heavy pollution days, 	
pol	lution exposure, industrial accidents, transportation accidents and other pollution 	
risks. 	 	
(3) Strengthen monitoring of public opinions.	 Relevant departments should assess and 	
forecast major social risks	 following from	 environmental risks, to provide a ba	sis for 	
timely and scientifically coping with risks threatening environmental safety.	 	
4.4.3 Comprehensively enhanc	e the integrated support	 for coping with 	
environmental emergencies	 	
Although a lot of work has been done since the “11th Five	-Year Plan”, under the severe 	
situation where environmental emergencies keep popping 	up	, the emergency rescue 	
supplies are inadequate, and equipment 	is outdated. It is urgent to improve the 	
integrate	d support	 for coping with 	environmental emergencies.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
28	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
(1) Build an environmental emergency response team.	 Efforts should be made to 	
quicken up the construction of environmental emergency management agencies, and 
fully play the role of six major supervision	 centers in environmental emergency 	
management, speed up the building of social rescue force and set up an environmental 
emergency expert team. 	 	
(2) Strengthen emergency response material and equipment support.	 Rapid pollutant 	
sampling, monitoring and anal	ysis equipment should be developed to cope with 	
environmental emergencies. Emergency supplies should be increased through various 
channels, and the sound emergency supplies monitoring network, pre	-warning system 	
and the production, storage, allocation and 	distribution systems should also be 	
established. 	 	
(3) Improv	e standards and norms concerning the risk prevention facilities and 	
emergency material reserves.	 Relevant departments should carefully study the exiting 	
standards and norms to identify the blank a	rea, and formulate standards, norms and 	
guides concerning the environmental risk prevention facilities and emergency material 
reserves of governments, enterprises and industrial parks	.

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
Vista Analyse 	 	 	29

Planning for Environmental Risk Reduction in China: Policy Recommendations	 	
30	 	 	Vista Analyse	 	
 	
 
Vista An	alyse AS	 	
Meltzersgate 4	 	
0257	 Oslo	 	
NORWAY	 	
 
post@vista	-analyse.no	 	
vista	-analy	se.no

Parse pdf-doc by clicking the button below. Parsed pdf-documents will be searchable.

Metadata Found
Author
CAO Guozhi, YU Fang, JIA Qian, ZHU Wenying, LI Chao, Haakon Vennemo, Kristin Aunan, Rasmus Reinvang and John Skjelvik
Producer
Mac OS X 10.10.5 Quartz PDFContext
CreationDate
2016-05-29T19:01:09+00:00
ModDate
2016-05-29T19:01:09+00:00
Pages
32