China's environmental governance of rapid industrialisation

Shi, Han; Zhang, Lei

doi:10.1080/09644010600562567

Cited by 87 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The impact of the introduction of new administrative arrangements for environmental management is gradually fi ltering through and encouraging the more economically developed jurisdictions and enterprises to invest in environmental projects with higher social returns (Lo and Tang, 2006). Lo and Tang also point to the importance of the advocacy role of non-governmental actors and others in promoting change of attitudes and expectations as well as the more horizontal and participatory system of environmental management (Shi and Zhang, 2006). As knowledge, institutional capacity and external pressures build, it can be expected that not only will there be a strengthening of environmental capacity but also a willingness to change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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New sustainable business models in China

et al. 2007

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This research explores the need to establish new sustainable business models in China and uses multiple objectives to examine in a sample of Chinese companies the reality of the level of sustainable development, environmental awareness and performance, community responsibility, performance barriers and drivers and other sustainability issues. A mixed methodology was adopted, using a questionnaire survey and interviews with 20 manufacturing companies in Guangzhou and Shenzen. Evidence from the small sample of companies demonstrates the lack of signifi cant sustainable development practices in China, although small and medium sized companies appeared to show interest in this area and would like to further contribute to for example triple bottom line objectives. Increasing concerns are found from the company level regarding the need to use renewable energy, source alternative sustainable materials, close the loop of the supply chain, improve the quality of products produced rather than reducing cost, export to Europe and treat employees as an asset. The lack of skills, fi nance and knowledge are found to be prohibiting the effective embedment of sustainable development within companies and hence cause an under-performance in this regard. The study concludes that the establishing of a new business model for sustainable development in China is needed urgently, and this should be a joint effort with the Chinese government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 13 July 2006; revised 18 November 2006; accepted 30 November 2006Keywords: sustainable development; business models; environmental issues; China The Need for New Sustainable Business ModelsA N ARGUMENT MAY BE CONSTRUCTED THAT CURRENT BUSINESS MODELS DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE. AFTER ALL MANY societies are enjoying unprecedented wealth, so -the argument goes -why change something that is working so well? Nonetheless, such models are indeed changing and the cause of this change is the need for sustainable development. The authors note that the need for sustainable development did not arise within the business world or neoclassical economic theory. The roots of sustainable development may be traced to those who subscribed to other sources of knowledge such as 'A blue print for survival ' (Goldsmith et al., 1972) and the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth (Meadows and Meadows, 1972 ' (WCED, 1987). In 'needs and aspirations' there are great business issues to be faced: for example, society will need some idea of material suffi ciency as a developmental goal and this, we argue, is not something that existing business models can accommodate. It is very likely that new sustainable business models will have to address issues that appear at the moment to be counter to business best interest. Travis Engen understands that businesses do now need to respond to social issues: '. . . the corporate world can be placed on a continuum that ranges between Milton Friedman's view that "the business of business is business" and Ebenezer Scrooge's reve...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As knowledge, institutional capacity and external pressures build, it can be expected that not only will there be a strengthening of environmental capacity but also a willingness to change. As Shi and Zhang (2006) observed, greater openness and integration will be benefi cial to the modernization of China's environmental governance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New sustainable business models in China

et al. 2007

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“…This proliferation of environmental regulations from different departments and bureaus, operating at local, provincial and national scales, has fragmented environmental governance (ZHANG and WEN, 2008;LIU et al, 2012). More than 450 new national and local environmental laws and regulations have been issued since the 1990s, shifting the focus from end-ofpipe pollution control to pollution prevention and environmental conservation (SHI and ZHANG, 2007;ZHANG and WEN, 2008;MOL, 2009;HE et al, 2012). A variety of new policy instruments include market-based economic incentives, measures for restructuring production, voluntary campaigns and public participation.…”

Section: Regulatory Tools and Incentivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Green Leap Forward? Eco-State Restructuring and the Tianjin–Binhai Eco-City Model

2016

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green leap forward? Eco-state restructuring and the Tianjin-Binhai eco-city model. Regional Studies. China has experienced a remarkable explosion of designated eco-cities since the year 2000, with TianjinBinhai becoming the best-practice model. Embedded in broader political economic changes, shifting multi-scalar regimes of environmental governance have shaped this efflorescence. Applying eco-state restructuring, this paper argues that eco-city construction became a new strategic project after the 2000s, driven by central state-driven model cities and assessment initiatives. This also led to a very different kind of 'best practice' eco-city model: Tianjin-Binhai, a China-Singapore collaboration in which greenness is manufactured rather than adapted. Notwithstanding significant implementation problems, Tianjin-Binhai's status as best practice persists, raising questions about what it means to claim eco-city status.

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“…In 2003 when President Hu Jintao took office with the promise of modernization and development, environmental sustainability was mentioned for the first time on a par with economic growth (Hu 2005). The two notable proxies of ecological modernization; namely, the concerns for global environmental problems such as climate change, and participation in multilateral environmental agreements such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD, gradually appeared in China's official policy position, becoming, by the mid-2000s, a well-established domestic policy item (Shi and Zhang 2006;Gilley 2012). In September 2015 President Xi Jinping pledged USD $2 billion for new global Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the UN Summit in New York on 25-27 September 2015(The Guardian 2015.…”

Section: China's Green Shift In Domestic Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%