The concept "green GDP " has finally become something tangible now that the State Environmental Protection Administration has inaugurated a number of pilot projects.

Within a year, the administration will conduct environmental assessments in 10 provinces and cities, including Beijing, and investigate economic losses caused by pollution.

By doing so, it intends to establish a "green national economic assessment mechanism" and a "pollution-induced economic loss appraisal mechanism."

That is no easy job. Administration officials have said this is an "arduous and long-term task."

Technical difficulties, such as accounting methods and standards gauging economic development and its impact on the environment, exist. But they should turn out to be the least difficult to solve in this case.

There are bigger problems when it comes to modifying development strategies.

Everybody talks about having a "scientific perspective on development," "environmentally-friendly progress" and "sustainable growth." It is hard to avoid such fashionable catchwords in the media and in official speeches.

But all commitments to environmental well-being are compromised in the drive for economic growth.

For more than two decades, the entire nation has been playing catch-up - backward inland areas want to catch up with their coastal cousins, who in turn want to catch up with developed countries.

In a race like this, speed was everything. It still is, in a certain sense.

Without enough speed and subsequent job creation, the economy would suffer.

But on the other hand, society is increasingly aware of the price of this head-long drive for economic development.

The National Bureau of Statistics' annual report published on Monday on economic and social developments in 2004 offered abundant reasons for the nation to rethink about its code of conduct.

"High energy consumption and waste are putting an even greater strain on economic development," the report warned.

There were some upsetting facts.

According to initial estimates, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 9.5 per cent in 2004 from 2003. During the same period, energy consumption increased by 15.2 per cent.

Defying calls for higher efficiency and energy conservation, the nation consumed 5.3 per cent more energy for each 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) of GDP last year over the previous.

The increase in consumption of all major raw materials surpassed GDP growth.

Such growth cannot be sustained.

It is particularly unnerving because all this has happened amid the fanfare surrounding the so-called "scientific perspective," which stresses the quality of growth.

The fresh approach to development inspired the idea of "green GDP" and set the nation thinking about what kind of growth it needs.

It is essential to make it clear what "green GDP" is all about.

The State Environmental Protection Administration has taken a positive first step towards answering that question.

Before environmental concerns take root in the minds of policy-makers, there has to be rules to make sure they look beyond account books when formulating local development plans.

(China Daily March 2, 2005)