China encourages greener methods in business sector

Environmentalists in the US have praised China's efforts towards striving for greener operations in its financial sector.

The Green Evolution: Environmental Policies and Practice in China's Banking Sector report published by Friends of the Earth US has highlighted some of China's examples as positive and urged American businesspeople to follow suit.

One of the report's authors, Michelle Chan, said: "Because of the financial crisis and bailout, we in the US have a historic opportunity to update regulations in ways that enable Wall Street to finance a sustainable future."

Some of the measures taken by China include encouraging investors and lenders to consider environmental factors of new deals they may enter into and introducing pollution and climate change-conscious measures within the industry.

In similar environmental developments, the first study on China's soil erosion to be carried out in the last 60 years last week revealed that the country's rural areas are at risk of serious damage within the next 60 years.