Job Posting: CLAPV-NRDC Environmental Lawyers Public Interest Fellowship
We are working with Wang Canfa and the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) to sponsor a two-year Environmental Lawyers Public Interest (ELPI) Fellowship. The aim is to bring talented lawyers into the environmental law field to work under the guidance of one of China’s leading environmental litigators. The job posting (Chinese) can be found here.
We are also launching a similar fellowship at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan. More information about this soon.
Strengthen and Pass H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES)
The American Clean Energy and Security Act is going up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today. The following is a fact sheet put together by my colleagues at NRDC, David Doniger and Antonia Herzog, that sets out the key elements of the bill. See the Chinese version of the post here.
In what will be the most important clean energy and climate protection vote ever cast in Congress, the House of Representatives will soon vote on H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. This landmark legislation will help power our economic recovery by investing in clean energy technologies and creating millions of good-paying jobs. The bill will also enhance America‘s security and global leadership by cutting our oil dependence and curbing the carbon pollution that drives global warming.
The ACES bill combines standards and incentives in a powerful clean energy package:
- Renewable energy and energy efficiency standards will save energy consumers billions of dollars per year while cutting global warming pollution.
- Emissions standards for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will cut pollution from power plants, vehicles, and other industries.
- A cap on carbon emissions will gradually cut global warming pollution 17 percent by 2020, 42 percent by 2030, and 83 percent by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.
- More than 80 percent of the bill’s valuable pollution allowances will be used to meet public objectives: protecting consumers, preserving and creating jobs, deploying clean energy and energy efficiency technologies, cutting more carbon emissions, and coping with climate change impacts.
The ACES bill passed with bipartisan support by the Energy and Commerce Committee in May 2009 is strong legislation that will set us on the right path. The bill can be further improved, however, with more investments in energy efficiency measures that will cut consumer costs and carbon pollution, stronger requirements to scale up renewable electricity generation, and greater authority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce emissions from the largest pollution sources. It is also essential to prevent any weakening of the emission limits and environmental integrity of ACES. NRDC urges the House to strengthen and pass H.R. 2454.
Greetings from Xiamen
Greenlaw has been on a brief hiatus this week as our intrepid Michael Zhang takes a well-deserved break, and work takes our team to all corners of the world (Sweden, Korea) and around China.
I am writing from a hot and muggy (but quite beautiful) Xiamen and will be back to blogging in a few days. Until then.
Another Look at Beijing’s High Polluting Vehicle Phase-out Plan
Air quality of Beijing was a major focal point before and during the Olympic Games. After the Olympics, the issue became less visible even as Beijing continued its quest for blue sky days. According to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB), from January 1, 2009 to June 9, 2009, the number of days that the air quality met Grade 2 standards or better accounted for 81% of the days. As a matter of fact, the Beijing residents are enjoying the best air quality for the same period of time since 2000, partly thanks to its high polluting vehicle phase-out plan (the “yellow-label” policy).
The Ministry of Environment Protection has categorized air quality into five grades. Grade 1 is the best with an Air Pollutant Index (API) less than 50, and Grade 2 is considered “good” with the index ranging from 51 to 100. High-polluting vehicles are a major source of air pollutants in Beijing. By the end of 2008, there are about 353,800 yellow mark cars that account for only 10% of the total cars in Beijing but emit half of the total pollutants by the vehicles in Beijing.
In addition to the yellow label vehicle phase-out incentives, Beijing has provided up to two-year discount car loan to public service driving contractors who purchase green label cars in 2009, based on the purchase date.
Cases of Citizens Defending Environmental Rights: Beijing Residents Sue Planning Committee for Illegally Approving Planning Permits
公民环境维权案例选篇:182户居民诉北京市规划委违法核发规划许可证案
To help victims of pollution use the law to protect their legal environmental rights, and to give the wider public the basic legal knowledge to protect the environment and their environmental rights, the “People and the Environment” supplement of the Gansu Economic Daily closely planned and consulted with the Environment and Resources Law Research and Service Center at the China University of Political Science and Law before formally launching the “Citizens’ Environmental Rights Protection” column on May 9, 2007. Its goal is to advance and spread the implementation of environmental law in China.
This is a collection of cases that have already appeared in the “Citizens’ Environmental Rights Protection” column. Most are cases in which the Environmental Law Clinic and the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) have provided legal assistance.
Previously available only in Chinese, Greenlaw will be translating and posting one column each week with additional legal commentary. These CLAPV columns are translated directly from their original versions and do not necessarily reflect the views of NRDC.
View the full case and commentary after the break.
Click here to view previous cases.
Two notable open environmental information articles
Several influential experts have recently published articles on the topic of environmental information disclosure.
Zhang Changjian from Pingan, Fujian wrote a piece titled “The Open Environmental Information Measures: Implementation and Perplexity,” featured in the Greenpeace magazine. In it, he asks, what role do the measures play to help the general public become more aware of environmental conditions and learn to safeguard their environmental rights? What are the difficulties in its enforcement?
Wang Canfa, director of the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) and professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, also shares his thoughts in an article titled “On the Rules about Exceptional Cases in the Scope of Open Environmental Information,” featured in MEP’s Environmental Protection Magazine. In it, he explores the academic debate over the effects of the open information measures. Are complete rules concerning the exceptional cases of open information currently in place in the Chinese legal system?
For our readers who are proficient in Chinese, we’ve made available both articles for download below.
Zhang Changjian, “The Open Environmental Information Measures: Implementation and Perplexity” (Chinese, PDF format)
Wang Canfa and Cui Yun, “On the Rules about Exceptional Cases in the Scope of Open Environmental Information” (Chinese, PDF format)
Recent Environmental Law and Public Participation News
Environmental information disclosure should focus on “convenience” principle (Google translation)
This South China Daily editorial highlights some of the most recent developments in environmental information disclosure. The government’s disclosure of information is ultimately helpful to the public interest, the newspaper argues. The authors call for a “just, fair and convenient” principle to guide government disclosure of environmental information. (Source: South China Daily)
Shandong to expand information disclosure in 2009 agenda (Google translation)
Officials of the Shandong Provincial Government expressed strong support for measures introduced at the Provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference to bolster and expand current information disclosure efforts. Submitted by Wang Shu, the new measures aim to broaden the channels of information disclosure, integrate information disclosure programming with grass-roots public organizations, and include additional standards for enhancing the clarity and depth of the information released. (Source: National People’s Congress)
Environmental Public Interest Litigation Forum explores the future of environmental lawsuits (Google translation)
The All China Environmental Federation (ACEF) held a forum this week to discuss environmental public interest litigation. The forum explored three topics: barriers to public interest litigation, the current state of environmental public interest litigation, as well as possible proposals to expand and improve upon the system. Nearly 100 experts participated at the meeting and offered ideas and insights on the development of environmental public interest litigation. (Source: People’s Daily)
Green Yangtze Delta Newsletter April 2009 edition launched
The April 2009 edition of the Green Yangtze Delta newsletter was launched this week. The edition includes stories on:
- Green Homeland holds public interest event in Hefei
- Green Yangtze Delta offers commentary on Earth Day
- Green NGOs advocate “Greening Tomb Sweeping Holiday”
Green Yangtze Delta is a partnership among several of China’s impressive local environmental groups:
- Jiangsu Friends of Green (江苏绿色之友）;
- Shanghai Oasis Ecological Conservation Center （上海绿洲生态保护交流中心）;
- Green Zhejiang （绿色浙江）; and
- Green Anhui Environmental Development Center （安徽绿满江淮环境发展中心）.
To read more, click here to download the full text (Chinese).
To read previous editions, please click here.
Will China Put Carbon Dioxide Levels in Its 12th Five-Year National Development Plan?
中国是否会将降低二氧化碳排放水平的目标纳入国家“十二五”发展规划？
This past Saturday, the China Daily led an article on climate change with this potential good news:
China will put in place carbon dioxide emissions targets for its economic and social development programs, the central government has promised…
It also signals that China may be considering national goals for carbon dioxide levels when it maps its 12th five-year national development plan (2011-15).
Though the China Daily article only mentions “carbon dioxide emissions targets” and “national goals for carbon dioxide levels” the Chinese-language press announcement from the State Council was explicit in setting forth carbon dioxide intensity as the approach being considered: Read more…
Recent Environmental Law and Public Participation News
NRDC and IPE release new Pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI) (Google translation)
NRDC and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs released the results of their Pollution Information Transparency Index on June 3. The study benchmarks over 100 cities across China for various aspects of their environmental information disclosure performance. Only four of the 113 evaluated cities scored over 60 of a possible 100 points, with 32 cities falling under 20 points. (Source: Science Times)
Editorial: the government cannot rely on voluntary information disclosure (Google translation)
Citizens in Shenyang won a recent victory against the city government after the local ruled that the government must comply with their information release request. But when city officials only released four of the twelve requested documents, the citizens had to file another lawsuit seeking release of the other documents. While the open information regulations have introduced new opportunities, the Legal Daily writes, the trend towards secrecy and nondisclosure in China needs to change. (Source: Legal Daily)
Yan Yiming files appeal for stimulus information in Beijing High People’s Court (Google translation)
Last week, Yan Yiming submitted documents appealing the decision of the Beijing Intermediate Court deeming his lawsuit against the National Development and Reform Commission to be inadmissible. The original lawsuit sought full disclosure of all financial details of China’s 4 trillion RMB stimulus package after the NDRC refused to release such information. (Source: Legal Daily)