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Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Chemical pollution · China · 2018

Jiangsu court did not make chemical firms pay for Changzhou land cleanup

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 3 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

A Jiangsu appeal ruling in the Changzhou poisoned-land case left remediation to the state rather than the chemical companies. Reported land sales and school illnesses are not verified in the sources reviewed.

What?
The appeal ruling in the Changzhou poisoned-land case did not impose remediation costs on the chemical companies; the state carried out the remediation. Beijing News (新京报)
Where?
Changzhou, Jiangsu province, China. Beijing News (新京报)
When?
Appeal ruling reported in December 2018. Beijing News (新京报)
Who?
Gained
  • Chemical companies in the case (not named in the source) — Not ordered to pay remediation costs; apologised and paid 230,000 yuan in costs Beijing News (新京报)
Lost
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
The court did not order the companies to pay remediation; they apologised and paid 230,000 yuan in costs. Beijing News (新京报)
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Beijing News reported that the Jiangsu High Court's appeal ruling in the Changzhou poisoned-land case did not impose remediation costs on the chemical companies.

According to the same report, the companies apologised and paid 230,000 yuan in costs, and the state carried out the remediation.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2018-12Outcome not on record
      Changzhou poisoned-land case (appeal)
      Jiangsu Higher People's Court · Civil · → Chemical companies (not named in the source)

      The appeal ruling did not impose remediation costs on the companies; they apologised and paid 230,000 yuan in costs. The state carried out the remediation. Beijing News (新京报)

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Court

    • Unclear Changzhou poisoned-land case (appeal): outcome not on record.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the chemical factory land was sold; Greenpeace and Nanjing University found that a quarter of 174 polluted parcels were sold, and about 44 percent of those were not fully cleaned up.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: provincial capitals earn 20 to 52 percent of their revenue from land sales.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: in 2016 hundreds of pupils at a school beside a former chemical plant fell ill, and NGOs sued two cleanup companies (Sixth Tone, 2016).
    • None on record Not known: which companies were defendants, and the filing date of the case.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. 常州毒地案二审宣判
      Beijing News (新京报) · 2018-12

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