This month, it appears that things are rolling for anti-pollution. China’s economy slowing down but they are stepping up their game in water pollution on all fronts – transparency, pledges, enforcement, policy & tariffs.  Check out our review of the current crackdown on groundwater – will it work? Separately, NGOs like IPE and the Green Choice Alliance are also taking a crack at investors for investing in cement companies with pollution violations. The only fly in the ointment is the proposed amendment to the environmental law released on 25 June 2013. We take a look to see if this will indeed set China back 40 years or whether it will be shelved. Separately, banks are also taking steps to factor in water risk.  HSBC’s latest report on coal & power wiped out 26% and  45% of  value in Shenhua Energy & China Coal respectively in a scenario where China was severely constrained from a lack of water by 2030. Gas & nuclear still rely on water (as does hydro) so fuel choices are limited. Enter algae…  Pandhal, Hanotu and Zimmerman recount their cost-effective way of harvesting algae from eutrophied lakes. Could this be China’s new bio-fuel? Clean up & provide energy; two birds with one stone … we like it. Elsewhere in China, the government is looking to tackle electronic waste. Could this be the start of removing mountains of e-waste to make the rural environment less “grim”? Perhaps the semiconductor sector may also come into the spotlight given they are huge energy and water guzzlers? Check out 8 things you should know about semiconductors and water. Globally, developments on sustainability reporting are also prevalent.  Robert Gibson gives us a run down of latest developments in integrated reporting; it is much needed as 47% of the audience polled at the Standard Chartered Earth Resources Conference are not familiar with the GRI reporting framework. 千里之行 始于足下 …  a journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step – as far as we’re concerned, so far it’s been in the right direction.