China will launch its first nationwide investigation into the root sources of environmental pollution in 2008, according to the top environmental official.

"It will take three years to ascertain how much pollution is discharged all over the country," Zhou Shengxian, minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), told the first national work conference on environmental policies and the legal system, which was held on Wednesday in Beijing.

A list of products seen as likely causes heavy pollution is being drafted. The list is expected to provide a reference for the government to exclude certain items from export rebates, levy higher customs duties on them or even set import limits.

Zhou said the number of complaints and protests from the public over pollution accidents had increased at an annual rate of 30 percent in recent years, principally due to slack law enforcement.

Ministry figures register losses of 511.8 billion yuan (US$64 billion) in 2004 caused by pollution, accounting for 3.05 percent of the 16 trillion yuan (US$2 trillion) in China's GDP that year.

The victims, both government and society, had to endure most of the losses due to inadequate compensation.

To better protect the interests of environmental victims and help enterprises share the risks, SEPA plans to promote environmental insurance jointly with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"We will monitor industries of high risk and heavy pollution or factories located in environmentally fragile areas," said Bie Tao from SEPA's department of policies, laws and regulations. "Enterprises of hazardous chemical products will be obliged to buy insurance."

The People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) confirmed that environmental insurance promotion is being developed.

"Some of our liability insurance already covers compensation for environmental accidents, but PICC will put forward a special environmental insurance," a researcher with the liability department of PICC said.

Zhang Jianyu, a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, said that without a clear and enforceable regulatory framework to help quantify risks, insurance companies might be reluctant to cater such insurance policies.

Normally, the fine for non-compliance is capped at 200,000 yuan (US$25,300), according to the current air pollution law, regardless of the offence's severity or duration.

(China Daily December 15, 2006)