Beijing is attempting to calculate the city's "green" gross domestic product (GDP), the Beijing News reported Friday.

The experiment is scheduled to figure out the "green" GDP of 2004 by the end of next year based on the formula of "conventional GDP minus environmental losses".

At the first working meeting held by the municipal government on Thursday, the "green" GDP was defined as the GDP resultant from deducting resource consumption and environmental losses from the conventional GDP.

The pilot calculation will not include the cost of resource consumption, said the newspaper.

The report lists the ten fields that the investigation will cover, including the cost on pollution management and sewage disposal, the effect of air and water pollution on human health, the effect of water pollution on crops, the condition of construction materials and the economic losses caused by pollution.

Beijing, along with nine other provinces and municipalities, was chosen by the central government in March to conduct experiments on calculating the green GDP.

The full test results are expected to be released next year andwill lay the foundation for a nationwide system of green GDP.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2005)