Transferring Cleaner Production Technology To Industries In Changzhou And Nantong, China

By relying on cleaner production (CP), companies can simultaneously cut pollution and increase the efficiency of resource use. Governments at all levels in China have invested substantial resources to encourage companies to adopt CP. We investigate what these government efforts have accomplished by examining fourteen case-study companies' responses to CP requirements of city-level government CP programmes in Changzhou and Nantong. Types of company responses can be divided into four categories: complete CP audit adopter, one-time CP audit adopter for assessing an existing technology renovation plan or addressing known pollution violation, pro forma CP audit adopter, and CP audit report producer. Based on our case-study data, the following variables appear to be correlated with companies that are complete CP adopters: leadership commitment to CP; a strong monitoring and management system; an internal system for generating innovations and improvements; and, a high degree of integration of multiple functions such production, R&D, and environmental protection.