The government is weighing up adopting a market-based system of fees and tradable permits to curb polluting industries, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhu Zhigang, a deputy finance minister, said Beijing would increase monitoring and enforcement of environmental standards but suggested that policies that favor firms that cut emissions would be a better option. �China imposes charges after pollution takes place, which forces the government into a passive position, and doesn�t allow it to implement an incentive system to get companies to actively protect the environment,� he said. Zhu added that current penalties for industrial polluters are too low, and do not even cover the cost of cleaning up. Local governments, which often turn a blind eye in the interests of retaining jobs and generating fat profits, could be encouraged to take pollution seriously if they were given a large portion of revenue from discharge permits, Zhu said.
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