Peter Bosshard
29 May 2008
(Page 3 of 3)
Over the years, the Chinese government has taken strong measures to address the alarming environmental destruction. It banned logging in old-growth forests in 1998, strengthened the water law in 2002, adopted a strict law on environmental impact assessment in 2003, and ensured public participation in such impact assessments in 2006. The green credit policy and other measures adopted by SEPA provide the teeth which will enforce stricter compliance of domestic polluters with environmental regulations.
The guidelines adopted by the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, China Exim Bank and other agencies indicate that China intends to address the environmental footprint of Chinese companies overseas. Yet as happened in Western countries, stricter environmental regulations at home may also motivate Chinese companies to move their polluting operations abroad. This creates risks for regions with weak environmental regulations and enforcement capacities such as Africa.
In September 2007, South Africa's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced that her government was talking with China about moving polluting Chinese companies to South Africa. 'China needs to send some of its polluting industries elsewhere because it is choking on them', Mlambo-Ngcuka said. 'We have the capacity to manage emissions and want to regulate that agreement' [23]. The announcement is reminiscent of a memorandum in 1991 in which the World Bank's chief economist Lawrence Summers argued that 'under-populated countries in Africa are vastly under-polluted', and that the World Bank should be 'encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the [Less Developed Countries]' [24].
CONCLUSION
China has great strategic interests in Africa, and Africa will benefit from a continued strengthening of its cooperation with China. Such South-South cooperation will promote growth and much-needed investment. However, as China's domestic experience demonstrates, economic growth should not come at the cost of environmental destruction. As a long-term partner in Africa's development, China has a self-interest in strengthening the rules on the social and environmental impacts of its overseas projects. China has begun the process of establishing guidelines for overseas investments. Given the speed of its global expansion, these guidelines will need to become more comprehensive, and deepened through binding regulations.
African governments can learn from China's experience by being selective in the types of investments which they invite, and by making sure that investments do not undermine the long-term environmental foundations of growth and prosperity. Africa's civil society is taking an active interest in China's role in the continent, and will continue to monitor the sustainability of Chinese investments.
Western governments will become more credible in expressing concerns regarding the environment and good governance if they uphold and strengthen the standards ruling their own overseas investments. They will need to accept their primary responsibility for addressing global environmental impacts. They should do more to promote standards and technologies which can help reduce emissions at home, in China and in other countries which are currently catching up with Western consumer societies.
*Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers in Berkeley, USA. He coordinates a programme to strengthen the environmental standards of Chinese overseas investments. A longer version of this text is available, in English and Chinese, at http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/2802
1 Financial Times (2007) 'China pledges $20bn for Africa', 17 May
2 Goldstein, A., Pinaud, N., Reisen, H. and Chen, X. (2006) 'The Rise of China and India - What's in it for Africa' OECD
3. For a brief discussion of other impacts of China's role in Africa, see Bosshard, P. (2007) 'China's Role in Financing African Infrastructure', International Rivers Network
4 See Economy, E. (2007) 'The Great Leap Backward?', Foreign Affairs, September/October 2007, for a good summary of China's environmental problems and their link to inadequate governance structures
5 Centre for Chinese Studies (2007) 'China's Engagement of Africa: Preliminary Scoping of African Case Studies', pp. 94f
6 Quoted in Lindsey Hilsum (2005) 'We Love China', in Granta 92, 'The View from China'
7 'Sierra Leone bans timber exports', BBC News, 15 January 2008, viewed on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7189204.stm on 16 January 2008
8 African Union (2006) 'Meeting of the Task Force on Africa's Strategic Partnership with Emerging Powers: China, India and Brazil', p. 5
9 Quoted in Les Echos, 24 October 2006 (translated from French by the author)
10 Financial Times (2006) 'EIB accuses China of unscrupulous loans', 28 November
11 Philippe Maystadt quoted ibid
12 China's African Policy, January 2006
13 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao's Regular Press Conference on 24 October 2006
14 Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, 'Dui 'guanyu jiaqiang jingwai zhongqiye jigo yu re nyuan anquan baohu gongzuo de yijian' de jiedu' [Explanation regarding the suggestions for strengthening the human safety and protection of workers for Chinese enterprises and organizations overseas], 31 August 2006, and Gill, B. and Reilly, J. (2007) 'The Tenuous Hold of China Inc. in Africa', in The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2007, pp. 37-52, p. 47
15 Guanyu Guli he Guifan Woguo Qiye Duiwai Touzi Hezuo de Yijian, viewed on www.zgbfw.com/info/pump-news-296021.html on October 30, 2007, Principles 5 and 9, unofficial translation
16 China Ex-im Bank's environmental policy (unofficial translation of the Chinese original). See also Environmental Defense, International Rivers Network, International Civil Society Recommendations Regarding China Exim Bank's Environmental Policy Based on International Good Practice, September 2007
17 China Exim Bank, Issuance Notice regarding Guidance on Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in China Export Import Bank Projects (unofficial English translation), 28 August 2007
18 Alden, C., (2007) 'China in Africa', London/New York, pp. 29f., 58
19 State Environmental Protection Administration, Media News, Blacklist of Polluters Distributed, 6 August 2007
20 State Environmental Protection Administration, News Release, MOC and SEPA Jointly Issued the Circular to Resolutely Prohibiting the Export Activity at the Cost of Damaging the Environment, 31 October 2007, and Xinhua, Supervision of exporters to be tightened, 30 October 2007
21 International Finance Corporation, China EPA, IFC to Develop Guidelines for Groundbreaking National Green Credit Policy, 26 January 2008
22 See Xinhua, 'China warns of 'catastrophe' from gigantic Dam', in Chinadaily.com.cn, 26 September 2007
23 Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka quoted in Business Report, 1 October 2007
24 Lawrence Summers, The World Bank, Office Memorandum, 12 December 1991
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