Beijing's Major Polluters Enact Bold New "Do Whatever The Fuck You Want" Emissions Policy

More than a quarter of all companies covered by Beijing’s municipal carbon laws ignored a key reporting deadline, local media said on Friday, with some powerful companies questioning the local government trading body’s authority to regulate them. Beijing’s carbon trading market, one of six set up in China to rein in rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions, caps carbon dioxide from nearly 500 local enterprises.

Most of them must hand over permits to the government to cover for their emissions, while some must only report their CO2 levels. But 140 of them missed an April deadline to submit a verified report of their 2013 emissions, local newspapers reported on Friday, a key to determining how many permits each firm must hand over to the government to cover for CO2 output.

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State-owned enterprises (SOEs) routinely ignore environmental regulations issued by local governments, one of the main reasons why China is struggling to cut soaring pollution levels despite issuing a raft of environmental policies in the last couple of years. A new law mandates all companies to follow environmental regulations regardless of the authority level, but that does not enter into force until next year and it remains to be seen how successful it will be.

“They [SOEs] are not just businesses, many have administrative status higher than local governments. It is quite difficult to manage and has not been completely resolved yet,” Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told reporters. Beijing, where companies must hand over permits to the government to cover for their 2013 emissions by June 15, is only the latest of several local governments struggling to enforce its carbon scheme.

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http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1531627/powerful-emitters-ignore-beijing-carbon-scheme-deadline-and-question-its