Pilot pollution insurance enforced：Guangdong  

广东企业试行环境污染责任险 可分担意外损失

广东省环保厅20日对外通报，该厅与广东省保监局6月初正式发布的《关于开展环境污染责任保险试点工作的指导意见》即日起正式生效，凡购买了环境污染责任保险的在粤企业，发生环境污染意外事故后，产生的损失将由保险公司依规“埋单”(赔偿)。

Guangzhou (CNS) -- The provincial environmental protection authority of Guangdong announced on Wednesday that a pilot pollution insurance plan is taking effect immediately. The plan was jointly released by the authority and the Guangdong Bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission in early June.

Five industries with high environmental risks were included in the pilot phase: chemical companies, hazardous waste disposal firms, lead accumulator and secondary lead producers, heavy metal dischargers, as well as other major pollutant sources. The lower limit for pollution insurance is set at one million yuan (US$157,134).

Guangdong dealt with 27 serious pollution emergencies in 2011, causing huge financial and physical losses to local residents, not to mention steep crisis management fees billed to the government.