We have reported several times recently about the waves of environmental inspections that are taking place in China right now. It has been clear to us that the authorities are ratcheting up the pressure, though it’s still not totally clear what the impact will be on the aluminum industry or on the raw materials industries that feed aluminum production.
But it is now patently clear that the environmental authorities mean business. A Chinese language website has today published the first statistics from the latest wave of inspections.
According to the source, since the latest inspections started at the end of October, 100 people have suffered criminal detention. More than 3000 people have been cited for breaches of air, water, noise or solid waste pollution. And the fines issued during these inspections has exceed RMB 100 million - and that’s in only 8 of the 20 provinces being scrutinized.
There’s no data on exactly who the people are who went to prison, or their company names. AZ China will continue to monitor the work of the environmental inspection teams, with particular focus on the carbon anode side of the business (which has already had substantial cutbacks). But these numbers make one sit up and take notice!
Acknowledgements to the BBC for the feature image.
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