China will modify the environmental supervision of companies to help the resumption of production disrupted by the coronavirus epidemic, giving firms more time to rectify environmental problems, but stressed it was not relaxing standards. China’s economic growth is expected to have halved in the first quarter to the weakest since 1990 as the epidemic and strict containment measures crippled factory production, hobbled supply chains and led to a sharp slump in demand. “The environmental supervision should be adjusted in accordance with practical needs and social economic situation,” said Cao Liping, director of Ecological and Environmental Enforcement bureau at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), at a press briefing on Tuesday. “The purpose of environmental supervision is never about shutting firms and curbing production, but about […]