Environmental Assessment 环评
The Chinese government requires environmental assessment reports before construction projects can be launched. The assessments can propose changes to a project to cut pollution and address other problems. The law requires formal appraisals to be conducted by qualified assessors and for certain levels of public participation and information disclosure. Such assessments started in the West in the 1960s amid rising concerns about the environment. The assessors’ reports are intended to allow authorities to consider projects’ impact on the environment when they decide whether and how to proceed with a project. In 2003, China passed the Law on Appraising of Environment Impacts, which stipulates that projects around the country must be assessed before work on them can start. However, a recent report from a non-governmental organization said that many of reports are done by unqualified assessors, casting doubt on whether the appraisals are objective.