About NRDC: Annual Report

This document is also available as a PDF file that includes photos and illustrations.

NRDC's health team is tackling China's industrial pollution threats here and abroad with a multifaceted strategy that combines science, partnerships, and policy know-how stemming from years of environmental victories.

China's pressing pace of industrial growth -- and the mismatch between this growth and the scale of its government operations -- preclude many of NRDC's traditional approaches to protecting the environment. Unfortunately, addressing a global health threat is not as simple as taking our successful stateside strategies and transplanting them to China. These added challenges spurred NRDC's health team to design a pioneering and innovative approach to solving China's industrial pollution problems in a way that is specifically targeted to this growing nation: the Responsible Sourcing Initiative.

First, NRDC undertook a review of China's GreenWatch program, a new public environmental performance rating system for factories in Jiangsu -- one of China's most environmentally progressive provinces. After meeting with key partners, including provincial officials and the World Bank, we contracted with the Jiangsu Academy of Environmental Sciences to collect the ranking results for more than 12,000 industrial and commercial operations. We translated and input the data into an electronic database that could then be analyzed.

Armed with this data, NRDC zeroed in on textiles, one of the two most polluting sectors. Representing nearly 25 percent of the province's most-polluting facilities, textile factories are also notorious energy hogs, burning large amounts of coal to heat water for the dyeing and washing processes. Instead of taking this information to local media to expose the threats and galvanize support, a successful strategy in the United States, NRDC realized the limits of this approach in China and devised a new tactic.

We brought the list of severly polluting factories to key multinational corporations headquartered in the United States and asked them to investigate whether any factories in their supply chain were on the list of major violators. After a series of introductory meetings, a number of apparel retailers have expressed great interest in working with NRDC to answer this question. Retailers can use their influence to tell any of their suppliers in violation of Chinese rules that they are not eligible for continued business unless they come into compliance. More importantly, retailers can join with NRDC to craft solutions on the ground, reinforcing and expanding the capacity of China's environmental infrastructure for longterm results that could extend well beyond the influence of a single factory.

And now, NRDC is poised to launch phase two of our strategy. Our experts have audited a typical polluting factory, investigating the use of both materials and energy to find cost-saving methods that will also curb air and water pollution. After preparing highlevel technical assistance materials, we will organize a workshop with multinational corporations and the Jiangsu government for textile plant managers from across the province to learn about best practices.

With this proven success under our belt, NRDC will reach out to even more multinational apparel manufacturers to help hold polluters accountable, put sufficient political leverage in the hands of local Chinese officials, and continue transferring the knowledge and skills to Chinese managers to implement lasting solutions to China's most pressing environmental challenges.

See the complete Protecting Communities section of this report (in pdf format, 313k) for more about our work, including how NRDC steps up with early protections from potential toxins.

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