China's Policy Impasse: The Case of the "Green GDP" Initiative By Eve Cary

China's Policy Impasse: The Case of the "Green GDP" Initiative
By Eve Cary

China’s environmental problems are apparent to any visitor, and the statistics are striking: China is home to 20 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, 90 percent of China’s rivers and lakes are polluted, and the Chinese government dealt with 580,000 environmental complaints in 2006 (South China Morning Post, December 16, 2008). Yet, the central government’s efforts to mitigate environmental problems through policies and regulation have encountered significant implementation challenges. In an effort to rebalance economic growth and environmental degradation, Beijing launched the Green GDP (Lüse GDP) program in 2003. The initiative was intended to quantify environmental degradation and thereby create incentives for local governments to improve environmental standards. Unfortunately, the Green GDP program was doomed from the start and was cancelled by the central government in 2007. Despite initial central government support for the project, local recalcitrance, bureaucratic infighting, and elite party politics eroded support and led to its demise. The bureaucratic and structural issues that Green GDP faced are not exclusive to this case—in fact, their impact on a wide range of policies in China make them relevant to the study and understanding of the various factors that influence the Chinese policy implementation process.

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