Respected Mr. Chairman, Guests Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, please allow me, on behalf of SETC, to express our congratulations on the opening of the 5th Session of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.
I would like to take this opportunity to brief you on the work done by SETC, the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), and relevant departments of the State Council in recent years in the field of practicing cleaner production.
Ⅰ. Promoting the change of concept in the area of prevention and control of industrial pollution through strengthening publicity and training.
SETC and NEPA jointly convened the Second National Working Conference on the Prevention and Treatment of Industrial Pollution in Shanghai in October 1993. Examining and summarizing past experiences in the prevention and control of industrial pollution, it was shown that cleaner production is a very important measure to ensure coordinated development of the environment and the economy, and to make progress down the road of sustainable development. With the target of improving the utilisation rate of resources and energy, and reducing the volume of pollutants, cleaner production must begin with the first step and focus on the control of the entire production process. This is the best model for the prevention and control of industrial pollution, and has both environmental and economic benefits.
The systematic practice of cleaner production is still a new subject in China for both the environmental protection sector and the industrial sector, particularly for enterprises. Thus, the primary task of practicing cleaner production is to change concepts in the primary task of practicing cleaner production is to change concepts in the area of prevention and control of industrial pollution, and to ensure the understanding its importance for the goal of promoting industrial development. To this end, various regions and relevant departments should fully utilize available publicity tools and channels, and extensively publicize their training activities. In 1993, NEPA trained 48 auditors and 10 Chinese teachers for 'enterprise cleaner production' through the implementation of a World Bank technical assistance project. In March 1995, National Council of Light Industry convened an on-the-spot meeting concerning the practice of cleaner production in the alcohol industry. In July 1995, the Ministry of Chemical Industry convened a national working conference and held training courses on cleaner production. At present, the idea of cleaner production is being gradually accepted by China's business and economic communities and a common understanding is developing.
II. Regarding the implementation of cleaner production as an important content of laws and regulations and incorporating it into the 9th Five-Year Plan and sectoral plans for environmental protection.
In succession, China has promulgated and revised The Law of Prevention and Treatment of Atmosphere Pollution, The Law of Prevention and Treatment of Water Pollution, The Law of Prevention and Treatment of Environmental Pollution, The Temporary Regulations on the Prevention The implementation of Water Pollution in Huaihe River Valley, and so forth. The implementation of cleaner production is an important content in these laws and regulations, and the prevention and control of industrial pollution through implementation of cleaner production is expressed in clear terms.
In formulating the Ninth Five-Year Plan, various sectors also regard the practice of cleaner production to prevent and control industrial pollution as important content. In the study and formulation of The Ninth Five-Year Plan and 2010 Long -term Target for National Environmental Protection, NEPA, the State Planning Commission and SETC take technical progress in the practice of cleaner production as an important measure to prevent and control industrial pollution, to realize control of the total amount of pollutants, and to specifically address the pollution of Huaihe, Liaohe and Haihe Rivers and Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi Lakes. In formulating The Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Technical Renovation Plan and The Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Technical Renovation Plan and The Outline of the National Industrial and Transportation Technology Development in the Ninth Five- Year Plan, and Transportation Technology Development in the Ninth Five-Year Plan, SETC put cleaner production into a very important position. For instance, in the power industry, focus should be placed on accelerating the retirement of aging generating sets, the rehabilitation of power plants focusing on generating sets of 200 and 300 MW, and the development of the 100 MW circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) boilers, and so forth; in the coal industry, focus should be put on the technical renovation of coal-washing and processing, and on-the-spot conversion of coal wastes; in the steel and iron industry, techniques such as continuous casting and rolling, utilization of surplus energy, comprehensive furnace energy-saving and environmental protection, should be developed. It is proposed in the "Outline of Resource Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Work in the Ninth Five-Year Plan" that during the Ninth Five-Year period, SETC will study and propose a catalogue guide to cleaner production technology in key industries, formulate and carry out policies and administrative measures concerning cleaner production, and so on. The target of practicing cleaner production in the chemical industry during the Ninth five-year period proposed by the Ministry for Chemical Industry is to reduce the water-consumption volume and pollutant volume per ton/output of seriously polluting enterprises by 20% over the levels of 1995 respectively. The Ministry will also build up and train a team of experts and backbone cadres for implementing cleaner production in the chemical industry, and establish a batch of demonstration enterprises of cleaner production, and to make organizational, technical and policy preparations for the overall practice of cleaner production in the chemical industry in the next century. In addition, sectors like the petro-chemical industry, light industry and shipbuilding industry to mention but a few have all drawn up their respective plans for cleaner production to be implemented during the Ninth Five-Year period.
III. Actively Conducting the Demonstration Pilot Project of Cleaner Production.
Backward technology and equipment, high resource consumption rates, and excessive waste within existing enterprises are the major causes of industrial pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to accelerate the pace of technical renovation and improve the level of technology and equipment of the overall industry. The implementation of cleaner production by ensuring technological progress is an effective war to prevent industrial pollution.
During recent years, SETC has worked closely with related departments, promoted extensively the pilot project to show the benefits of clean production, and arranged a wide range of demonstration projects. For instance, many cleaner production demonstration projects have been arranged through special loan by SETC for technology renovation and environmental protection, including the recovery and utilization of diffused gas found in oilfields, the renovation to ensure cleaner production of chromium salt, the concentrated maceration of pulp and decentralized manufacturing of paper, the utilization of high density organic waste liquid drained off from food brewery industry to produce protein forage or to generate methane and electric power, the closed-circuit circulation of two water-systems in the chemical fertilizer industry, and the production of sulphuric acid with cement form phosphorus gypsum. All of these demonstration projects have played a demonstrative and major role in promoting the implementation of cleaner production in China. Funded by the sub-project B4 under the World Bank loan project, NEPA has conducted the auditing experiment for cleaner production in 29 enterprises in China. With the focus on meeting the set standards of production equipment and reliance on technical progress, Sinopec has adopted the management of all-process pollution control, leading progressively to the technique of clean, pollution-free and low-pollution production. During the past 5 years, the petro-chemical-industry, through the implementation of cleaner production, has reduced the discharged volume of carbon dioxide by5 million tons, leading to an increase of benefit of 1.47 billion RMB yuan.
IV. Conscientiously Enforcing the Program of Action of China's Agenda 21 and Implementing the Project of China Cleaner Production Policy and Management.
Cleaner production, as an important measure for the realization of sustainable development, has been codified in China's Agenda 21 and listed among the first batch of priority programs. In July 1994, in Beijing, ministers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada and the Moftec of China signed a letter of intent on cooperation, and initiated three projects, including the project of China Cleaner Production Policy and Management.
This project is led by SETC, and organized and implemented jointly by SETC and N EA. At the end of last year and in the beginning of this year, Canadian specialists came to China twice to discuss with their Chinese counterparts the targets, content and working framework of the project, and reached common understanding on the plan for the management of the project. The project focuses on research in to, and proposals for, policy and managing methods for the implementation of cleaner production in China, organizing training and a publicity campaign for cleaner production, compiling a guide for cleaner production in key industries, and carrying out research on an information system for cleaner production. The plan for the management of the project will be signed by the Chinese and Canadian governments in the near future and is expected to start implementation in 1997. SETC an NEPA are now organizing the initial stages of preparatory work for the project. This Sino-Canadian cooperative project has received generous support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Ms. Labelle, the President of CIDA.
Thank you!