A representative from the State Environment Protection Administration has disclosed to local media that SEPA has blacklisted 12 companies because of pollution.
As punishment, these companies have been asked by their respective banks to pay back their loans and have been refused further loans.
In July 2007, SEPA passed a list of 30 environment infringement companies to the People's Bank of China and China Banking Regulatory Commission, which resulted in a refusal of banking support to the concerned companies by banks across the country.
The representative of SEPA says that green credit has played an important role in that it forces each company to answer for their environmentally unfriendly behavior, as the environment department's fine, which is at most RMB100,000, is inadequate for punishing the infringing parties.
