【Financial News】China begins environmental assessment in economic powerhouse

今日导读：环保部27日召开京津冀、长三角、珠三角三大地区战略环境评价项目启动会，保障生态文明建设。副部长潘岳表示，规划环评是生态文明建设的保障制度，将在这三大地区严守红线，调控开发的规模和强度，分配控制污染物排放总量。

China launched a strategic environmental impact assessment across its three major economic powerhouses, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said Tuesday.

The assessment will cover the northern Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as the Yangtze River Delta and the Peal River Delta in the south. Pan Yue, vice minister of the MEP, said these regions, while being substantial economic growth drivers, were infamous for their environmental problems, and this had stirred the public to demand change.

Pan said the assessment will include the monitoring of urban development, distributing and capping pollutant emissions,and pressuring industries to undertake economic restructuring, among others.The MEP is taking various measures to improve the way it undertakes environmental impact assessment, including revising regulations to combat corruption.