China is one of the world’s biggest polluters. Yet there are signs change may be underway as the government faces mounting public pressure over environmental degradation.
Despite recent news that China has underreported its coal consumption, 2015 has been a potentially transformative year for environmental protection. Under the Dome, a TED Talk-style documentary investigating China’s air pollution and its impact on health, went viral in March, receiving about 200 million views on Chinese websites. As if in response to this public interest, in April the Party Center—the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee—restated its plan to implement “ecological civilization reforms,” something it had stressed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CCP Central Committee in 2013. In August the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (China’s legislature) approved major amendments to the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, marking the law’s most significant overhaul since its enactment in 1988.
Such moves show seriousness on the part of top Chinese leaders about environmental protection, but bringing about actual change remains a challenge to the public policy-making process.