China: China's environment ministry is planning to launch stricter rules regarding nitrogen oxide emissions from cement plants, according to local press. An industry expert said that the policy change could wipe out a third of the industry's total net profits.
The report illustrates the challenges faced by the government to balance pressures for strong economic growth with public demands to lessen pollutants caused by industries that currently operate with few environmental restrictions. China had previously said that it planned to cut the cement industry's overall nitrogen oxide emissions, a key cause of acid rain and photochemical smog, by 10% by 2015.
Chinese Vice Minister of Environment Protection, Zhang Lijun, during a visit to the Anhui Conch Cement Company in January 2012, told accompanying officials and executives that the ministry plans to introduce stricter rules.
Kong Xiangzhong, the president of China's cement industry association, said that the ministry is considering tightening nitrogen oxide emission standards to 400mg/m3 from the current 800mg/m3. "It will translate into huge pressure for the cement industry," Kong was quoted as saying.
China's cement industry, polluting but profitable, has thrived during China's infrastructure spending spree. Anhui Conch, for instance, announced that its 2011 net profit is expected to be at least 80% higher than in 2010. China is the world's largest cement producer, with some 3000 plants producing 2Bt/yr. Beijing announced earlier that it wants to shut at least a third of the country's least efficient cement plants by 2015.
