Shi Mingjun, a professor at the academy’s Research Center on Fictitious Economy & Data Science, estimates that of costs of environmental damage in 2005 amounted to US$401.7 billion, or 13.9% of the total output for the year.
Further calculations of "green GDP" — a measure of economic growth adjusted for losses to natural resources and environmental degradation – are likely to find similar results for 2006 and 2007, the report said.
The results validate the view that China’s economic growth has relied mainly on the input of natural resources and is causing enormous
environmental losses, Shi said."If we calculate the real cost to the environment and natural resources, the losses are greater than the
gains."
Some reports suggest that the Ministry of Environmental Protection initially delayed the reporting of this data due to concern of some
local governments over the publication of such disappointing results.
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