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China stops counting cost of pollution

12 Mar 2009
00:00
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The Chinese government two years ago stopped calculating the pollution cost of economic growth as it goes all out to lift the economy, scmp.com has reported.

Environmental vice-minister Pan Yue said the "green GDP" scheme had been put on hold because of opposition from local officials.

The revelation comes days after Chinese authorities promised US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that they would join with Washington to cut carbon emissions.

Pan told reporters during this week's CPPCC conference that "the green GDP project has been cancelled" and that there were no plans to restart it.

The scheme, aimed at providing a true picture of environmental degradation caused by the mainland's runaway growth and frequently-ignored green regulations, was introduced in 2004.

The only report ever issued, in 2006, showed that in 2004 pollution caused an economic loss of 510 billion yuan ($74 billion), or 3% of GDP.

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