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commitments on emission reduction (Xia and Liang, 2011; ADHURD, 2010).
This led to a range of emissions falling 10% collectively, including SO 2 , ac-
cording to results of an inspection at the end of 2010 by the National Envi-
ronmental Protection Department of the East China Inspection Center, and by
the end of the 11th Five Year Plan period Hefei had carried out 65 emission
reduction projects (Zhu, 2011). The Hefei EPB reported putting in place a
policy that provided a monetary reward for those who reported enterprises that
12
violated environmental regulations in some discernible form, a range of
13
emission reduction and general pollution prevention projects, banning the
burning of straw, 14 and regulations increasing local enterprises’ use of auto-
matic air pollution monitoring equipment. 15 These policies were reported to
have been put in force alongside central-level emission standards of the same
year targeting the magnesium and titanium industries, 16 as well as the in-
dustries producing aluminum, lead and zinc, copper and nickel, 17 and stan-
dards were established targeting the reduction of nitrogen oxides from thermal
power plants. 18
By the end of 2010, Hefei government leadership proclaimed a successful
transition in which they had “steered away from the outdated development
path of high energy consumption and high pollution,” and transitioned to a
low-emission model that sanctioned local enterprises that did not meet new
emission-related standards (Zhu, 2011). Overall, a 22% decrease from 2006 to
2010 in Hefei’s energy consumption was attributed to the city’s new sus-
tainable policy commitments (Tang and Li, 2012), and as shown in Fig. 16.3,
energy efficiency improvements reached the industrial sector after 2010. The
“energy efficient, low-emissions, and high profits” nature of Hefei’s transition
(Zhu, 2011) supports the conceptualization of Hefei as driven by urban growth
machine forces, given the critical role of profit maximization (Feng, 2016;
Logan and Molotch, 2007; Molotch, 1976; Zhang, 2002). That is, environ-
mental reforms were more palatable if accompanied by profit-maximizing
opportunities. This apparent green transition for Hefei came at a propitious

12. Directive no. 181, “Hefei city environmental violations reporting reward,” Hefei Environ-
mental Protection Bureau, 2010.
13. Directive no. 140, “Second batch of special environmental projects in Hefei 2010,” Hefei
Environmental Protection Bureau, 2010.
14. Directive no. 65, “Implementation Plan of Straw Banning Law Enforcement Supervision in
Hefei in 2010,” Hefei Environmental Protection Bureau, 2010.
15. Directive no. 15, “Strengthening operation and management of automatic pollution monitoring
equipment,” Hefei Environmental Protection Bureau, 2010.
16. Directive no. GB 25468-2010,“Emission standard of pollutants for magnesium and titanium
industry,” Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2010.
17. Directive nos. GB 25465-2010, GB 25466-2010, GB 25467-2010, respectively.
18. Directive no. 10, “Technical policy of nitrogen oxides in thermal power plants,” Chinese
Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2010.