In 2018, President Xi Jinping visited Hunan province to check on environmental protection measures. Decades of industrial development had a bad influence on the water quality of the world’s third-longest river. The Yangtze River is the main source of drinking water for nearly 400 million people. To recover the water quality and nearby nature, more than 1600 companies from different industries with insufficient waste water treatment have been closed since 2018. Until end of 2020, all remaining companies located within 1 km distance to the river have to prepare an environmental report. However, there are still around 400.000 small companies located in that area. The “greening” of the industry is a tough battle for the Chinese government, as those 400.000 companies make up 46% of the total chemical industry in China. The main goal now is to relocate factories to chemical parks where environmental protective measures can be better controlled.
China: Environmental policies to protect the Yangtze River
