[Editorial] Is environmental monitoring a "scripted performance"? The true bottom line cannot be challenged
Squeeze the space for "scripted performance" in environmental monitoring, cut off the chain of fraud, and make every link such as sampling, testing, and reporting stand up to all-round inspection. When the entire process of environmental monitoring is exposed to the sun, it will be possible to curb fraud throughout the entire process and protect green waters and green mountains.
"White noise in the office replaced the excessive noise at the construction site, and the monitoring data of the regular testing company was falsified." "There were no real water samples at the seven monitoring points, and the water quality monitoring samples were fake." "The soil samplers in the oil and gas fields faked the entire process, and none of the tools, depth, and data were authentic." According to CCTV reports on September 6, environmental testing companies in Shanxi, Jiangsu, Sichuan and other places issued false environmentally qualified monitoring reports. "From sampling to report issuance, fraud was everywhere, laying hidden dangers for environmental governance." At present, the above-mentioned places have responded that "a joint investigation team will be established as soon as possible" and relevant incidents are under further investigation.
This is not the first time that falsification of environmental monitoring data has been exposed. Previously, some places "wear masks" for gas sampling equipment when monitoring air quality, which attracted public attention. Nowadays, there are more ways to falsify monitoring data and they are bolder, which is astonishing. For example, a sampler dug a shallow pit of about 20 centimeters to pose for a photo, but dared to write a 3-meter deep sampling in the report; the equipment was placed on the ground without being turned on, but it was able to "get data"... Data falsification in the field of environmental monitoring in some places has reached the point where it must be seriously dealt with.
Ecological environment monitoring data can be said to be the “eyes” and “ears” of ecological environment governance. Monitoring agencies rely on professional and technical means to monitor environmental factors such as atmosphere, water, and soil. The resulting reports provide important reference for the government to formulate environmental protection policies and provide a basis for enterprises to conduct environmental self-examinations. The authenticity and comprehensiveness of this "physical examination report" will directly affect subsequent major decisions such as "what medicine to take" and "whether to have surgery". Once it is false, it means that the "symptoms" will be mischaracterized and the "prescription" will go astray. For this reason, my country has issued detailed regulations on environmental monitoring. The "Ecological Environment Monitoring Regulations" that were implemented on January 1 this year clearly state that technical service agencies that are entrusted to carry out monitoring should establish a monitoring data quality management system and must not falsify monitoring data in any way, and clarify the punishment for counterfeiters.
Carrying out environmental data monitoring truthfully is not only a mandatory requirement of laws and regulations, but also the red line for the compliance development of relevant enterprises. However, some qualified companies use professional means to falsify and comply with regulations to resist supervision, and the harm they cause deserves high vigilance. For example, if supervision requires photos to leave traces, counterfeiters specialize in staged photos; supervision requires original records to be checked, so counterfeiters select qualified data and disrupt the time series to backfill; they even change the digital iteration from the laboratory to sampling, retaining samples, experiments, and reports to fake the entire process to achieve "whatever results the customer wants, the report will be produced"...
To curb and reverse environmental monitoring fraud, we must find answers from the causes and motivations. First, the interests of Party A and Party B are deeply bound, and they hit it off immediately - some companies entrusted with monitoring only want to obtain qualified reports and complete relevant procedures; the monitoring agency will do what they want, transforming "providing monitoring services" into "helping to issue qualified reports", forming a closed loop of "company pays - agency releases - both parties benefit". Secondly, low prices in the industry are involved, creating a situation where "bad money drives out good money" - there are a large number of environmental monitoring agencies and competition is fierce. When the quotation cannot cover the cost of compliance monitoring, data fraud will appear. Under the vicious cycle of "grabbing orders at low prices - compressing processes - data falsification", many compliance institutions have suffered losses and will inevitably "join if they can't beat them".
Maintaining the bottom line of authenticity of environmental monitoring is the key to providing basic data for ecological environment management and depicting the true appearance. Relevant parties must increase efforts from multiple dimensions such as systems, technology, and law enforcement to explore and solve the industry's stubborn problems. For example, the implementation of mechanisms such as "whoever produces the figures is responsible, whoever signs is responsible" and both parties are punished equally; administrative investigations and criminal investigations are promoted simultaneously, and zero tolerance is maintained for environmental monitoring fraud; rational competition in the industry is guided to get out of the cycle of low-price involution, etc.
Governance experience in other fields is also valuable for reference. For example, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone is building and applying a digital perception network. The "Smart Sentinel Team" composed of AI ecological sentinels, gas inspection unmanned vehicles, AI city inspectors, etc. can enable early warning to run in front of hidden dangers and protect the city's operations around the clock.
Companies that violate emissions are whitewashed, and polluted water and soil continue to affect the production and life of surrounding people under the "qualified" label... At present, digging into the root of the problem and holding the relevant responsible persons accountable is only the first step. What is more important is how to squeeze the "scripted performance" space of environmental monitoring in the future, cut off the chain of fraud, and make every link such as sampling, testing, and reporting stand up to all-round inspection. When the entire process of environmental monitoring is exposed to the sun, it will be possible to curb fraud throughout the entire process and protect green waters and green mountains.
Our newspaper’s commentator Wu Di
"Worker Daily" (Page 05, September 9, 2026)
