The "pollution liability" has a new standard of five major mechanisms or a replacement orientation

On December 18, 2017, my and state issued "ecological environment compensation system reform plan" (hereinafter referred to as "the plan"), a clear since January 1, 2018 in the national ecological environment compensation system. Ecological environmental damage compensation system is an important content of the construction of ecological civilization system in China, and it is also an important exploration to realize the internalization of environmental externalities through monetization. The comprehensive implementation of the eco-environmental damage compensation system will provide a solid foundation for the further deepening of the green financial system and diversified development.

The main contents of the compensation system for ecological environmental damage

Clear pollution responsibility is a prerequisite for promoting green production and pollution prevention. The supreme people‘s court and the supreme people‘s procuratorate in June 2006 and June 2013 and December 2016 dealt with the pollution of the environment criminal case judicial interpretation ", through "the ring into the punishment" clear the legal responsibility for pollution; Environmental laws and regulations have also clarified the corresponding administrative penalties for enterprises and individuals that cause pollution. However, it is worth noting that environmental pollution has a wide range of impacts and high governance costs. The criminal responsibility of the responsible subject only is to be investigated for the "circular responsibility". Administrative fines are also far from covering the cost of ecological restoration. In the face of high cost of repair, it is often only public finance. Thus, to form the "enterprise pollution, the victims, the government pay", is not conducive to form the inner motive power of pollution control and ecological protection to repair, also not conducive to timely, effectively repair the environment pollution and ecological destruction.

Therefore, article 64 of the environmental protection law, which came into force on January 1, 2015, clarified the principle of "pollution liability". In September 2015, article 39 of the overall plan for ecological civilization reform, issued by the CPC central committee and the state council, also stressed the need to "strictly implement the system of compensation for ecological environmental damage". My and state in 2015, issued the ecological compensation system reform pilot scheme ", in jilin, shandong, jiangsu, hunan, chongqing, guizhou, yunnan 7 provinces in the ecological environment compensation system reform pilot work. After two years of trial, the system will be officially promoted to the whole country.

In accordance with the requirements of the programme, resulting in more than "large class" emergency environmental accidents, or in the key ecological function areas or prohibit development zone environmental damage incidents, and other serious consequences, influencing ecological environment damage caused by violation of laws and regulations, the units and individuals to perform environmental restoration, and bear the corresponding liability to pay compensation. The scope of compensation covers pollution clearance, ecological and environmental restoration, ecological function stage loss and permanent damage compensation, as well as other related expenses such as compensation investigation, appraisal evaluation, etc. Determine the form of liability by the judicial litigation, above ground level and the government as a representative of the people, responsible for a lawsuit, and is responsible for the supervision and implementation of ecological restoration and compensation for the use of funds.

The ecological environmental damage compensation system is further improved

The release of the plan indicates the direction of China‘s ecological environmental damage compensation system, but it is only the first step to establish and improve the related system. There are also key areas to be explored and clarified:

We should expand the subject of rights and explore ways and mechanisms of public participation. In our country, the land and resources are owned by the state or collectively owned by the state council and local governments. But in minerals, water, urban land, the state of forests, mountains, grasslands, wasteland, tidal flats after damage to natural resources, the main body of infringement for the majority of the people, and the ecological environment damage claim subject to state and local governments. Due to limited administrative resources and insufficient public awareness, claims for environmental pollution incidents often fail to be effective and timely initiated. The plan explicitly proposes that the government of the land level and above shall be entitled to compensate the obligee with a large degree of devolution of claims liability, which can enhance the enthusiasm and effectiveness of the claim. On this basis, explore the ways and mechanism of public participation, such as allowing launched by conform to the conditions of the public, non-governmental organizations, a suit for damages will help to form a more direct, incentive compatibility of the system, strengthen the effect of the ecological environment compensation system.

To improve the cross-regional compensation management method. The damage of environmental pollution tends to have a wide range of impacts, such as water pollution, groundwater pollution, and air pollution with strong dispersibility. Involving multiple cities when the environmental damage, and even across time, how to launch the ecological environment compensation lawsuit, how to coordinate between multiple subject, as well as the distribution of compensation funds, repair responsibility, all need to clear the detailed operating rules and guidelines.

To clarify the evaluation criteria and methods for the determination of ecological environmental damage and the liability for compensation. China‘s environmental public interest lawsuit was first established in 2003, but it has not yet formed a systematic influence. The lack of responsibility for environmental damage and the evaluation criteria and methods of compensation are the core reasons for each public interest litigation to be prolonged and controversial. The environmental damage compensation system also invokes judicial proceedings and faces the same problems. The plan proposes to improve the rules of litigation and evaluation of damage appraisal, and to strengthen the management of compensation fund for ecological environmental damage. And this will be the focus of the next step of ecological environmental damage liability system.

Improve the information disclosure mechanism. Firstly, enterprise environmental monitoring information is the basis of prevention and determination of environmental pollution. Secondly, strengthening environmental information disclosure is an important means to guide the public to focus on environmental damage and actively participate in supervision and strengthen the policy effect. Moreover, the public ecological environmental damage investigation, appraisal, compensation, ecological environment restoration effect report, as well as information such as the usage of funds, is to ensure that the ecological environment compensation system implement the important guarantee.

We will improve environmental liability insurance. Ecological environmental damage management is often costly, and there is no possibility that polluting enterprises can fully bear the cost of compensation. Through the environmental liability compulsory insurance, it can alleviate the problem of inadequate compensation fund, strengthen the power of pollution prevention and control, and improve the ability of ecological environment damage prevention.

Impact on green finance

As mentioned in the previous article, the eco-environmental damage compensation system can provide institutional guarantee for the implementation of environmental liability compulsory insurance, and it can also bring a positive impact on the green financial market.

From the perspective of the directly affects the ecological environment compensation system can improve the cost of polluting enterprises, thus highlighting the advantages of green manufacturing enterprise, make it more attractive in financial markets.

From the perspective of the preventive effect of damage compensation system the implementation of the pollution of the enterprise behavior formed the deterrence, will encourage more enterprises to carry out the pollutant emission control, avoid to cause damage to ecological environment. In the process, the market demand of green industry can be naturally expanded, and the assets of green finance can be extended.

Finally, from the perspective of institutional system construction, the restoration of ecological environment and compensation for pollution damage are the concentrated embodiment of environmental externalities. The implementation of ecological environmental damage compensation system requires the identification, evaluation and accounting of environmental damage. And this has a guiding effect on the social cost of measuring environmental pollution, namely the economic value of environmental externalities. Based on the relevant standards, the social value of green finance products can be calculated more accurately, which is conducive to more scientific and systematic understanding of the social benefits of green finance.