China to impose green tax on heavy polluters

China is to impose an environmental tax on heavy polluters under an ambitious cleanup strategy being finalized in Beijing, according to experts familiar with the program. The tax will be included alongside the world's most ambitious renewable energy scheme and fresh efforts to fight smog when the government unveils the biggest, greenest five-year plan in China's modern history next month. After three decades of filthy growth, the measures are designed to pull the country from the environmental mire and make it a leader in the low-carbon economy. But skeptics question whether the policy will have any more success than previous failed efforts to overcome the nexus of corrupt officials and rule-dodging factory bosses. The environmental tax–which will levy fees according to discharges of sulfur dioxide, sewage and other contaminants–is intended as a disincentive for polluting industries, many of which have flocked to China to take advantage of low costs and weak regulations. Officials and academics have been studying the options for several years, but government advisers have told the Guardian the policy is certain to be adopted. "The environment tax is going to happen. This is evident in the proposals for the next five year plan," said Ma Zhong, director of the School of Environment and National Resources at Renmin University in Beijing. "It is likely to be levied nationwide, but there is also a possibility that it will initially be introduced in selected regions."