China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has recently issued its most up-to-date corporate environmental information disclosure measures. According to these, major monitored emitters will be fined up to CNY 30,000 ($4,545) for failing to publish emissions records or for faking them. At the same time local Environmental Protection Administrations (EPA) are obliged to monitor violators until they rectify these issues.

Although the maximum penalty is tiny compared with current steelmaking margins, increasing political and social pressure around environmental issues is slowly increasing costs for steelmakers, Kallanish notes.

The measures state that local EPAs should publish a list of polluters to monitor before the end of the year. These companies should make public important data including major emissions volume, standard requirements and environmental protection measures.

By 24 August the fourth batch of national environmental inspectors had disgraced and warned 1,797 officials from provinces including Sichuan, Shandong and Jilin. A total of 146 legal representatives from industrial cocerns were detained.