Ma Jun’s revolution of China’s environmental policy started with one plastic water bottle.
Thirty years ago, while researching water pollution in China, Ma Jun, the Founder and Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), visited a village struggling with freshwater pollution and water-borne diseases. A woman brought Ma to the village’s river and filled a plastic bottle with brown, polluted water.
“I still can’t forget the severe impact [pollution] had on the freshwater system,” said Ma.
Ma spoke about this life-changing experience in a Rare Conversation called “Driving Corporate Responsibility and Environmental Transparency.” In the hour-long conversation, Ma spoke with Shiyang Li, Director of the Rare Center for Behavior in China, about the importance of transparency in environmental advocacy, the power of behavior change, and the necessity of collaboration between multiple stakeholders to drive change at scale.
Transparency in environmental data
In 2007, Ma founded IPE, a non-profit environmental research organization based in Beijing, China. IPE’s mission is to create databases of environmental data that collect and analyze government and corporate environmental information, making them available to the public.
Ma emphasized that environmental transparency is a game-changer. By making pollution data publicly available, IPE empowers the public, businesses, and policymakers to take action. This transparency has driven corporate accountability, policy changes, and greener supply chains.
Ma says that the general public paid close attention to IPE’s data transparency surge from the very beginning. “[The public] put pressure on the polluting companies,” said Ma. In the eighteen years since IPE’s founding, the organization has grown from managing less than 2,000 records of violations to currently managing more than 3.2 million.
“I give the public credit for that,” said Ma.
Behavioral change matters
Ten years ago, China became the first country in the world to create an online monitoring data system for air and water pollution. This data included real-time disclosure of monitoring data, meaning every hour, tens of thousands of companies needed to report their emissions to the public.
Li asked how IPE utilized behavior change to hold these companies to account, noting that classical models such as administering fines often don’t produce true, lasting change.
“The real litmus test is not whether or not you have [environmental] issues, it’s how you respond and what you are willing to do to change it,” said Ma. While exposing environmental violations (naming and shaming) is one approach, creating pathways for companies to improve and be recognized for their progress is often more important. IPE adapted its strategy to emphasize how public recognition of progress helps dynamically shift the norm of companies willing to rectify pollution, showing that positive reinforcement can drive meaningful change.
Since IPE’S founding, Beijing’s air pollution (PM2.5) dropped from 89.5 to 30.5 micrograms and water pollution in China’s worst category (unusable) reduced from 28% to less than 1%.
Collaboration among the public, corporations, and government is crucial
Environmental change is most effective when multiple stakeholders—citizens, corporations, and government agencies—work together. IPE’s strategy of engaging all three has helped drive stronger enforcement of environmental laws and corporate responsibility.
While building awareness and transparency is important, Ma noted that it’s not enough to drive lasting change.
“Knowing how difficult it is for people to change their behavior, I also try to find innovative ways for people to make choices slightly easier,” said Ma. “But at the end of the day, only extensive public participation can help to address and mitigate and address challenges of such a scale and with such a level of complexity.”
A more transparent future
Li asked Ma what he would say to his former self if he could travel back in time to IPE’s founding.
“I would want him to know that right now, neither transparency nor public participation is the norm…it’s not part of the DNA of our culture,” he said. “But I want to tell him that actually, it could become the norm.” He cited the recent addition to the Environmental Protection Law, entitled “Environmental Transparency and Public Participation.”
Now, IPE is moving on to other environmental challenges outside of air and water pollution, including monitoring biodiversity loss and recycling rates.
“There is no silver bullet solution,” said Ma. “We still have our long learning curve, and I look forward to further collaboration with Rare.”