Environmental Technical Standards and the Green Transition of China’s Manufacturing Industry

Distinct from the existing literature conforming to the Porter hypothesis which emphasizes the technological innovation mechanism,this paper examines the mechanism of technological transformation through which environmental technical standards influence the manufacturing industry in reducing emissions and improving efficiency(i.e.green transition).Furthermore,drawing upon enterprise samples from the databases of Chinese Industrial Enterprises and Chinese Industrial Pollution Sources from Major Monitored Enterprises,it empirically validates the results of the theoretical analysis.Overall,our research reveals that environmental technical standards can propel manufacturing enterprises to reduce pollution and increase productivity by following an incremental path of technological transformation,thereby achieving a green transition.Moreover,environmental technical standards indirectly promote green technology innovation in the upstream equipment manufacturing enterprises.Heterogeneity analysis further shows that environmental technical standards have a stronger effect of green transition on those companies with higher pollution emission intensity,lower productivity,slower capital renewal and stronger financing capacity prior to implementing the environmental policies.

Benefits of Environmental Site Assessment Standards in China

1.Preface As the fast paced Chinese economy brings more and more direct and indirect affects into ourlives,environmental protection has become one ofthe most popular subjects of recent times.

Environmental compliance and profitable steelmaking-always a challenge!

Badische Stahlwerke in Kehl,Germany is located on the river Rhine close to the Black Forrest,which is a recreational area.As a consequence the environmental regulations for Badische Stahlwerke are even more stringent than the already stringent German regulations.Badische Stahlwerke elaborated over the years many concepts for the reduction of environmental impact by a steel plant.These concepts deal with the reduction of emissions to air water and soil,but also with the recycling of all by products from steel making like slag,dust,scale and some others.The success of these concepts can be seen by the very low emission values of Badische Stahlwerke and also the profit derived from the recycling of by-products. Other ideas have been worked out to minimize noise emissions and to detect radioactive sources which are coming together with the scrap into the steel making process.This problem is getting more and more serious. With the experience of more than 25 years in environmental protection in the steel industry,BSE can offer these concepts and solutions to other mini mills to shorten implementation time of environmental protection and to avoid expensive mistakes. This paper shows which level of emissions could be reached without having any disadvantage on productivity and gives an overview of various standards and practices in Europe and worldwide.

Evaluation of Effluent Discharge from Steel Manufacturing Industries on the Proliferating Environmental Degradation in Nairobi Metropolitan in the Republic of Kenya

The overall objective of this study was to establish the effects of steel industrial effluent on Nairobi metropolitan water system and its impact to the society. The study sought to identify various types of wastes produced by factories, assess how the waste generated is managed and disposed, examine the effects of effluent discharge on Nairobi River and finally propose mitigation measures. The research adopted a qualitative design and employed a number of methods: direct observations, document reviews to content analysis of the past studies, which in the end generated invaluable data. The study revealed that there are four categories of waste generated: solid waste, liquid waste, footbath chemicals as well as thermal wastes. It was also found that waste management in place was not effective enough leading to water and soil pollution. Other causes of pollution were found out to emanate from gasses contamination to the air and chemicals used during steel processing. The findings will inform the community of the harmful effects of untreated water and how it impacts on their health and productivity. It will also help the stakeholders in the environmental conservation to articulate issues of policy and influence agenda setting in the national and sub-national levels.

Determination of water environment standards based on water quality criteria in China:Limitations and feasibilities

There is a need to formulate water environment standards（WESs） from the current water quality criteria（WQC） in China.To this end,we briefly summarize typical mechanisms applied in several countries with longer histories of developing WESs,and three limitations to formulating WESs in China were identified.After analyzing the feasibility factors including economic development,scientific support capability and environmental policies,we realized that China is still not ready for a complete change from its current nation-wide unified WES system to a local-standard-based system.Thus,we proposed a framework for transformation from WQC to WESs in China.The framework consists of three parts,including responsibilities,processes and policies.The responsibilities include research authorization,development of guidelines,and collection of information,at both national and local levels;the processes include four steps and an impact factor system to establish water quality standards;and the policies include seven specific proposals.

Spatial variance and assessment of nitrogen dioxide pollution in major cities of Pakistan along N5-Highway

This paper discusses the findings of the first car MAX-DOAS（multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy） field campaign（300 km long） along the National Highway-05（N5-Highway） of Pakistan conducted on 13 and 14 November, 2012. The main objective of the field campaign was to assess the spatial distribution of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide（NO_2）columns and corresponding concentrations along the N5-Highway from Islamabad to Lahore.Source identification of NO_2 revealed that the concentrations were higher within major cities along the highway. The highest NO_2 vertical column densities（NO_2VCDs） were found around two major cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore. This study also presents a comparison of NO_2 VCDs measured by the ozone monitoring instrument（OMI） and car MAX-DOAS observations. The comparison revealed similar spatial distribution of the NO_2 columns with both car MAX-DOAS and satellite observations, but the car MAX-DOAS observations show much more spatial details. Maximum NO_2 VCD retrieved from car MAX-DOAS observations was up to an order of magnitude larger than the OMI observations in urban areas.