On September 7, Environmental Protection Administration and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly issued the world’s first report on the impact of the environment on the economy, dubbed “Green GDP.” The report, which involved 41 areas of investigation, reveals that pollution caused losses of 511.8 billion yuan in 2004, which was 3.05 percent of the 16 trillion yuan GDP that year.

The release of such a report has provided people with another perspective on GDP, and one that can improve environmental protection and rational resource utilization and helped arouse the awareness of sustainable development.