No abstract

Cleaner Production (CP) has been advocated worldwide as a strategy for companies to obtain environmental and economic benefits simultaneously. This analysis of how city-level CP programmes were implemented in Changzhou and Nantong (Jiangsu Province, China) finds that both cities failed to meet the Province's targets to implement CP at all large-and medium-sized companies by the end of 2000. Ineffective vertical control, weak inter-agency co-ordination, and lack of alignment between CP requirements and the core missions and operating procedures of implementing agencies have impeded CP implementation in the two cities. The relatively few successful CP outcomes at companies are based on the professionalism and skills of individual implementing agents. However, successes that rely exclusively on individual agents may not last, and thus institutional changes will be needed if the government's CP programmes are to lead to broader CP adoption.

The Beijing Study would not be possible without the support from and collaboration of many institutes and organizations. First, we would like to thank GM China, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Energy Foundation for their generous financial support. We would also like to acknowledge the support and cooperation from the Ministry of Environmental Protection China, National Vehicle Emissions Testing Center of China, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, and the Beijing Internal Combustion Engine Group. We appreciate the International Sustainable Systems Research Center for sharing their computer programs for data analysis, their devices for recording vehicle start patterns, and their testing results of heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions in Beijing. Finally, we would like to thank the students from the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University and the Department of Environmental Engineering at Beijing Technology and Business University who participated in vehicle activity data collection as well as the students from the Automotive Department of Wuhan University of Technology who were involved in our emissions testing on light-duty passenger vehicles in Beijing.