The Australian
September 9, 2006

China has announced the first results of a long-term project to quantify the impact of growing pollution on its economy, estimating that environmental damage cost the equivalent of 3 per cent of economic output in 2004.

Beijing: China has announced the first results of a long-term project to quantify the impact of growing pollution on its economy, estimating that environmental damage cost the equivalent of 3 per cent of economic output in 2004. The announcement also said it would cost China about 1.08 trillion yuan ($180 billion) to clean up the deteriorating environment, equal to about 7 per cent of gross domestic product that year. The figures were contained in a short report issued by the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Environmental Protection Administration, which was ordered to find a numerical measure to track environmental damage. "As China’s GDP per capita reaches the range of $US1000-$US3000, society has experienced frequent conflicts and can no longer bear the social problems caused by environmental pollution," said the joint statement announcing the first results of the long-term project. "Although (China’s) brand of high consumption, high pollution and high risk development has had a certain historical use, our economy has now hit a bottleneck for resource and energy use."