The report "China Abandons Plan for Green GDP Index" from Financial Times has aroused China's great attention recently. Chinese officials, however, denied it soon after its publication.

According to China Business Post, Wang Jinnan, Chief Engineer at the Academy for Environmental Planning of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), declared that the report was untrue, as China had not given up "Green GDP" calculation.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics also confirmed that Chinese government would not abandon the plan for green GDP index.

The "green GDP" is defined as the GDP resultant from deducting resource consumption and environmental losses from the conventional GDP. It is reported that no country at all has figured out an entire "Green GDP" so far.

Undoubtedly, environmental economy calculation is a tough work with major problems in producing a single figure to reflect environmental impact. For example, there is no a unified accounting mode yet to measure losses from pollution. In particular, it is fairly difficult to acquire accurate data on losses from water pollution, solid wastes pollution, and environmental pollution accidents.

In spite of many difficulties, China has started experimental work to deduct environmental costs in ten provinces and municipalities, and the work will not discontinue.

Moreover, the National Bureau of Statistics is trying to introduce a new system called "green accounting". Backed by the United Nations, the system is expected to use flow charts to track circulation of environmental resources.
 
Editor: Yan