Credit: Natalie Behring
Pan Yue
Vice-Minister, State Environmental Protection Administration, China
It is perhaps the greatest challenge facing China: the runaway environmental degradation that is poisoning the country's skies, leveling its forests, and fouling its rivers. And until recently, there were few strong voices advocating a clean, green China, especially among Beijing's pro-growth, damn-the-consequences bureaucrats. But over the past two years one government official has stood up to the polluters. He is 45-year-old Pan Yue, viceminister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (sepa). Pan has taken on some of China's biggest industries over their pollution records and forced them to clean up.
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