The green GDP experimental work with broad social concerns has started. Pan Yue, vice minister of State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA), told media that SEPA and National Bureau of Statistics have recently launched the Green GDP Experimental Work in 10 municipalities and provinces featuring environmental accounting and investigation on economic damage caused by pollution so as to establish a green national economic accounting system and an evaluation system on economic damage resulted from environmental pollution.

The ten experimental municipalities and provinces include Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hebei province, Liaoning province, Zhejiang province, Anhui province, Guangdong province, Hainan province and Sichuan province. There are mainly three aspects for the experimental work: first, setting up regional systems for environmental accounting; second, launching survey on the damage caused by pollution, developing ways to assess and calculate regional pollution economic damage and setting the evaluation technical parameter; third, carrying out environmental accounting on the basis of pollution losses investigation, calculation on the physical quantity of pollutants and investigation on the environmental pollution treatment cost.

It is reported that the experimental work will last about one year in four phases: technological preparation period starts from January to March this year; research and investigation period begins in March and ends in July; from July to December will be the period for overall calculation and the calculation summation period will be in the first two months of next year.

Pan reiterates that it is an arduous and long-term task to build a green national economic accounting system with Chinese characteristics. The programme in China now is in its initiative stage. There still exist many difficulties in terms of technology, system and conception with many more findings in academic fields waiting for breakthrough. However, in light of the current environment and serious energy situation in China, regardless of what difficulties there will be, the research and experimental work of Green GDP must be pushed forward without any hesitation, laying a solid foundation for nationwide implementation of sustainable development.

By People's Daily Online