Economic Observer Online
June 6, 2012
By Jiang Yunzhang (降蕴彰)
Translated by Tang Xiangyang 
Original article:[Chinese]

 
The Ministry of Environmental Protection is establishing an index system to calculate “Green GDP,” which will be used to evaluate the performance of local officials, the EO learned from a report that the ministry recently submitted to the State Council.

This is the first time that the government has considered environment protection in assessing officials’ performance.

One analyst told the EO that “Green GDP” measures output minus the economic losses from environment pollution, the deterioration of natural resources, substandard education, social unrest and other factors.

Local governments will be required to play a major role in protecting local environment, with the Ministry of Supervision and the Ministry of Environmental Protection imposing strict standards to eliminate pollution and reduce carbon emission.