Institutionalising cleaner production in China: the Cleaner Production Promotion Law

During the 1990s, cleaner production was introduced in China, in the beginning especially via development aid projects. From 1992 to 1997 the focus was strongly on the introduction of cleaner production methodology, the training of personnel and the implementation of demonstration projects at the enterprise level. After 1997, the emphasis shifted to cleaner production policy-making, culminating in the Cleaner Production Promotion Law in 2002. This paper analyses the making of this unique law and provides a first assessment of the strengths, weaknesses and particularities of the first law on cleaner production.