Our Province Fully Implements Fiscal Policies Linked to the Total Amount of Pollutant Emissions

Recently, the provincial government issued the "Notice on Implementing the Fiscal Policy Linked to Total Pollutant Emissions" (Su Zheng Fa [2016] No. 158), which stipulates that starting from 2016, our province will comprehensively implement the fiscal policy linked to total pollutant emissions in all cities and counties (cities, districts). The main content is:

One is to clarify the target of the hook. In 2016, the total amount of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other four pollutants discharged by the cities divided into districts and counties (cities) was taken as the assessment target, and the total phosphorus and nitrogen emissions of the cities, counties (cities, districts) in the the Taihu Lake Lake basin were also included in the assessment target. Starting from 2017, on the basis of 2016, all cities and counties (cities, districts) in the province have unified the inclusion of volatile organic compounds, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen emissions in the assessment criteria.

The second is to clarify the overall planning standards. The provincial finance department collected pollution emission pooling funds for the southern, central, and northern regions of Jiangsu from 2016 to 2017 at a rate of 1500 yuan, 1200 yuan, and 1000 yuan per ton (total phosphorus per 100 kilograms), respectively. The collection standards were gradually increased after 2018.

The third is to implement a policy of return. Based on the assessment results of pollutant emission reduction, the provincial pooling funds will refund 40% of the total funds collected from cities and counties (cities, districts) that have completed their annual emission reduction tasks. For cities and counties (cities, districts) that have not completed their annual emission reduction tasks, the refund ratio will be appropriately reduced. If one of the emission reduction tasks is not completed, the refund ratio will be reduced by 5 percentage points, and so on.

The fourth is to implement reward policies. For prefecture level cities and counties (cities) that meet the provincial targets for three main environmental quality indicators, namely PM2.5, AQI, and assessment section compliance rate, they will be rewarded with 10%, 10%, and 20% of the total funds collected from the city, county (city, district), respectively.

Fifth, clarify the purpose of the funds. The return and reward funds will be used entirely by each city and county (city, district) for environmental governance and protection. The remaining funds will be used by the provincial level to support the province's "two reductions, six treatments, and three improvements" environmental protection special action, as well as cross basin and cross regional major environmental governance and ecological civilization construction.

The implementation of fiscal policies linked to the total amount of pollutant emissions is an innovative measure of our province's environmental and economic policies, reflecting the principles of result orientation and pressure transmission. It will further strengthen the environmental protection responsibilities of governments at all levels, promote them to increase their efforts in pollution control and emission reduction, and have important practical significance for accelerating the economic transformation and upgrading and ecological civilization construction in our province.