PITI Evaluation Criteria

Each city was evaluated on disclosure performance for eight metrics, which all directly or indirectly relate to the environmental performance of polluting enterprises:

Records of Enterprise Violations (28 pts) : As required by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) Measures on Open Environmental Information (MEP Measures), disclosure of records for various types of facility violations, including administrative penalties and enforcement actions taken.

Results of “Enforcement Campaigns” Against Polluting Facilities (8 pts) : Disclosure of the results of environmental protection bureau enforcement campaigns, such as campaigns targeting specific sectors, regions, or facilities, or ordering cessation of violations by designated deadlines.

Clean Production Audit Information (8 pts) : As required by the MEP Measures, disclosure of two types of information: (i) lists of enterprises for which the government has enforced clean production audits; (ii) emissions data from enterprises selected to undergo clean production audits, which by law must be released one month after the clean production audit. This is China’s only legal requirement for disclosure of facility-level pollutant emissions/discharge data.

Enterprise Environmental Performance Ratings (8 pts) : Disclosure of enterprise environmental performance ratings in accordance with MEP guidelines, which set forth a color-coded system representing levels of environmental performance: very good (green), good (blue), average (yellow), poor (red), and very poor (black). This system does not require disclosure of factory-level emissions data.

Disposition of Verified Petitions and Complaints (18 pts) : As required by the MEP Measures, disclosure of information on petitions and complaints, as well as their handling, including the content, target, and result of complaints and petitions, as well as general statistics on petition acceptances, investigations, and handling results.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports and Project Completion Approvals (8 pts) : As required by the MEP Measures, disclosure of: (i) the public comment draft of EIA reports; (ii) project completion reports, which typically include useful information about allowable enterprise emission levels.

Discharge Fee Data (4 pts) : Disclosure of discharge fee data, including the basis for such fees, standards and procedures for fees levied, fees owed compared with actual fees collected, and any waivers or discounts granted to facilities.

Response to Public Information Requests (18 pts) : Response to public information requests and whether the local environmental protection bureau has established a standard and comprehensive system for responding to public information requests, including disclosure of information regarding request procedures, provision of accurate contact information, the establishment of special offices or personnel for handling public information requests, standard and timely response to requests, and efforts to improve public convenience in making information requests.

Source: IPE and NRDC, Breaking the ice on environmental open information: The 2008 Pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI): First Annual Assessment of Environmental Transparency in 113 Chinese Cities (17 September 2010). See: http://www.ipe.org.cn/Upload/Report-PITI-2008-EN.pdf