In its quest to 'clear the air', China has punished nearly 20,000 violators of the country's environmental code targeting not only those who caused air pollution, but also some establishments that violated water and solid waste management regulations.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), a total of 19,289 cases recorded for the first half of the year have been concluded, in which violators were fined 743.25 million yuan, or US$ 121 million.

Like Us on Facebook

The ministry said on Tuesday that their records show east China's Zhejiang Province with the most violations, which had 4,077 cases punished, amounting to 187.22 million yuan worth of penalty.

Beijing, Jiangsu, and Hebei were also included in six other areas that had over a thousand violators punished each.

Most cases involved breaches on environmental standards involving air, water, solid waste, and noise pollution, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the MEP had posed new restrictions for two of China's largest oil companies following the punishment of environmental violations.

Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) were banned from expanding existing refineries or building new ones due to their failure to comply with the standard emission targets.

The MEP explained that both companies do not have enough essential equipment to pass the assessment.

Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences Deputy Director Chai Fahe believed that the constraints set by the MEP "will really shake" the two oil giants.

In response, Sinopec immediately launched a three-year one-off environmental clean-up costing about 28 billion yuan (US$163 million) dubbed as the "Blue Water, Blue Skies" program, which had been described as the most intensive measure any Chinese company has ever come up with.

Meanwhile, the CNPC offered to improve their equipment and came up with more than seven billion yuan (US $40 million) funding for the enhancement of their facilities.

For the past three years, over 30 multinational corporations were penalized for environmental regulation disobedience including companies that are subsidiaries of world-renowned brands such as Pepsi, Nestle, American Standard, Panasonic, and 3M.

TagsPepsi, Nestle, American Standard, 3M, Panasonic, water pollution, noise pollution, solid waste