9.4 trillion yuan pledged to fight water, air pollution

The Chinese government is accelerating investment in environmental protection, with the total investment into the protection of water, air and soil soon totaling 9.4 trillion yuan ($1.37 trillion), the Securities Daily calculated.

According to the Action Plan for Preventing and Controlling Water Pollution published in April this year, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection is focusing on combating water pollution.

An estimated 2 trillion yuan will go into enhanced monitoring of drinking water sources and the control of poisonous contaminants as suggested by a water pollution prevention and control action plan which is being formulated, according to Wang Tao, an official with the pollution prevention department under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

A total of 26.45 billion yuan ($41 billion) will be invested in water pollution treatment in China's 18 provinces, Securities Daily reported on Wednesday.

The wastewater treatment sector rallied strongly on Chinese A-shares due to positive expectations. On Tuesday, Lvcheng Water and Jiangnan Water stocks reached the daily limits while the stocks of South Huiton, Chongqing Water, and Hanzhou Iron & Steel surged by 6%.

Two years ago, China's State Council issued the Action Plan for Preventing and Controlling Air Pollution. According to an estimate by the Environment Ministry in 2013, the investment into controlling air pollution would amount to 1.7 trillion yuan.

Based on the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the 13th Five-Year Plan on environmental protection is on schedule and the Action Plan for Preventing and Controlling Soil Pollution will be issued. In the future, the investment in polluted-soil restoration will be 5.7 trillion yuan, the ministry said.

In the next five years, the market for energy efficient, environmentally friendly products will have huge potential. With the government focusing on controlling pollution, the energy-saving and eco-friendly industries will become fast-growing sunrise industries in China, and some listed companies related to environmental protection will benefit directly, the newspaper cited an industry insider as saying.

Wang Jinnan, chief engineer of the Environmental Planning Institute under the Ministry of Environment, said the investment into environmental protection will drive the development of energy-saving and eco-friendly industries.