Zhejiang province recently launched a new mechanism for awarding those who pursue ecofriendly development and punishing those who harm the environment in order to encourage local authorities throughout the province to take environmental factors into account when developing the economy.

The mechanism is part of the province's efforts to carry out the central government's "Two Mountains" initiative, which stresses that mountains and water are invaluable assets, and to develop the province into a "beautiful garden".

The new system takes into account the protection of water, air, forests, and wetlands throughout the province.

Kaihua county, Quzhou will be particularly affected by the policy as it lies at the head of the Qiantang River, the longest river in Zhejiang.

The county received 470 million yuan ($66.37 million) in government funds to pursue ecofriendly development in 2019.

Zhejiang also awarded a total of 108 million yuan to 49 cities and counties that performed well in reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP last year, and imposed 77 million yuan in penalties on 14 cities and counties who performed poorly in this regard.

The province has also launched a number of similar measures to protect the local environment in recent years, and wetlands are now included under the umbrella of such policies for the first time.

In 2019, water at 91.4 percent of 221 monitoring sessions at rivers throughout the province was at or above Grade III, the third-highest level in China's five-tier quality system for surface water, up 14 percent over 2016. In addition, 94 percent of days throughout the year in the province’s cities and counties were considered to have good air quality, up 5.6 percent over 2016.