New Opportunities, Same Constraints: Environmental Protection and China's New Development Path

Since coming to power in 2002, China's ‘fourth generation’ leadership has attempted to steer the country on to a new development path that emphasises environmental protection and resource conservation. This article argues that this has opened up a window of opportunity for China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), long perceived as a weak body, to expand its influence and improve implementation of environmental policies. This article examines two recent SEPA initiatives, green GDP and so-called ‘environmental storms’, to see to what extent SEPA has been able to achieve these outcomes. It concludes that, although the profile of environmental issues has risen as a result of these two initiatives, they also highlight the difficulties inherent in enforcing better environmental standards in an authoritarian political system.