This post’s title is borrowed from a chapter in Thomas L. Friedman’s book Hot, Flat, and Crowded. In the chapter, entitled “China for a Day (but Not for Two),” Friedman nearly wishes that the US Government would make as speedy and sweeping change as does China’s Central Government — that is when it’s for environmental and economic benefits. I thought of Friedman’s book chapter after a recent conversation with long-time China-based TFI Analyst Mark Natkin, who specializes in the telecom space in China and elsewhere in Asia.

This month Mark wrote in his newsletter the Marbridge Daily about China’s “Old-for-New” recycling program. In short, residents and organizations can trade in old consumer electronics and receive a 10% subsidy on the selling price of new consumer electronics. The program makes sense to me, and yet in China fashion the regulation is different from those in all other global regions. In fact “Old-for-New” is an even greater departure from the European Union’s WEEE Directive (reuse/recycling) than was China’s substance-labeling program from the EU’s RoHS Directive (substance restriction).

I asked Mark about China’s bold new law, and Mark said, “China is gradually working to improve the environment, both through recycling programs like the ‘Old for New’ program for consumer-electronics recycling, and also through use of more energy-efficient products, like “green” mobile-telephone base stations.”

Then he proceeded to give one person’s view of the impact of these laws, from the streets of Beijing: “We’ve had one of the most hospitable summers in my 7 years here – neither too hot nor humid and more blue skies than I ever thought possible for Beijing. I thought the clearer skies might be due, at least in part, to some improvements in environmental policy, such as replanting of forests between here and the Gobi Desert in the north, and even-odd license plate regulations. But the other day someone reminded me that one potentially major contributing factor is the economic downturn, which has seen a lot of factories reduce output (and the accompanying pollution).”

By the way, Friedman’s chapter “China for a Day” also reminded me of my 2004 visit to China (meeting executives at EMS and ODM companies in Shanghai and Suzhou), when with no apparent warning the Central Government banned filter-less cigarettes — without years-long deliberation by politicians in tobacco states or investments by the tobacco lobby. I found it both impressive and scary.

What do you think about China’s environmental policies and the way they are created?

Posted by Pamela J. Gordon, July 23rd, 2009

Filed to Environment, Lean Practices, Outsourcing, Supply chain management

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