The Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress just recently approved new regulations that are designed to green the country and combat the image as the world’s polluter. The laws promote a circular economy where:

…the government will step up environmental monitoring of carbon-intensive industries such as steel, power generation, oil refinery, construction and printing. Industries will also be required to introduce water-saving technologies and encouraged to switch to cleaner forms of energy, such as natural gas and renewables.

Businesses and government departments will be required to install renewable energy technologies in new buildings, while industrial and rural sectors will be encouraged to make wider use of waste material, ranging from coal mine waste to livestock slurry.

(Xinhua News Agency)

This will have a huge impact on Western firms who have outsourced their carbon intensive manufacturing to China. The new green laws go into effect at the start of next year. I wonder what will happen during this time: Will we just see the same capitalist treadmill of production where there will be even more outsourcing to other areas like Vietnam? Of course before we can make predictions, the larger question that must be answered is what will the process be like in terms of acquiring these new technologies? Who will shoulder these costs? If it’s all going to be put on businesses, what will be offered to stop them from fleeing?