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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 · 2015–2016

Chinese courts convict 49 over Tianjin port warehouse explosion

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.
People
  • 165 people died.
    More than 165 killed
What the record lacks: 4 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

An explosion at a hazardous-chemicals warehouse in Tianjin port killed more than 165 people in 2015. In November 2016 ten courts convicted 49 people, and the sources reviewed do not describe the blast's environmental effects.

What?
Explosion at a Ruihai Logistics hazardous-chemicals warehouse in Tianjin port, and the criminal trial that followed NPR/AP
Where?
Tianjin port, Tianjin, China
When?
Explosion in 2015; convictions in November 2016 NPR/AP
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • People killed in the explosion — More than 165 deaths reported
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Staff and officials were prosecuted; the chairman's sentence was suspended for bribery to obtain the licence. NPR/AP
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

An explosion at a hazardous-chemicals warehouse operated by Ruihai Logistics in Tianjin port in 2015 killed more than 165 people.

In November 2016 ten courts convicted 49 people in three days, including 25 officials and 24 employees (NPR/AP).

The chairman of Ruihai Logistics received a suspended death sentence for bribing officials to obtain a licence for the hazardous-materials site (NPR/AP).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2016-11Outcome not on record
      Tianjin port explosions trial
      Ten courts (trial reported by NPR/AP) · Criminal · → Ruihai Logistics chairman, employees and officials

      49 people convicted, including 25 officials and 24 employees; the chairman received a suspended death sentence. NPR/AP

    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 Tianjin port explosions trial: outcome not on record.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the site's environmental impact assessment was prepared by a government-affiliated academy, which judged the accident risk acceptable.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: residents said they had not been surveyed for the assessment.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a safety assessment firm first rejected the report, and the company then changed firms.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the death toll was 173.

    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

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