Lately, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environmental Protection have jointly issued the Opinions on Cultivating Market Players for Environmental Governance and Ecological Protection (the "Opinions").
The Opinions put forward three objectives including enhancement of market supplying power, gradually increased number of market players and promotion of a more open market, and specify that by 2020, the output value of the environmental protection industry will surpass CNY2.8 trillion. Accordingly, the Opinions establish a series of tasks, including promotion of the market-oriented environmental governance model, building of market-oriented and diversified investment and financing systems, implementation of an effective incentive mechanism, creation of an effective regulatory and enforcement system, regulation of the market order, strengthening of the reform and innovation of systems and mechanism, launching of pilot programs of investment companies with state-owned capital, and promotion of international cooperation. The Opinions, among others, put forward that the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) models such as franchise will be vigorously promoted in the municipal public utility sector and the franchise legislation will also be accelerated. In industrial parks and key sectors, the third-party governance model for environmental pollution will be promoted, the third-party governance experience of coal-fired power plants will be expanded, and the third-party governance model contracts will be released after studies.