Companies were urged to release more information on pollutant discharge than the legal minimum required, to meet growing public demand for transparency.

The call, by an environment official, was made as Tianjin launched a pilot project that encourages industrial companies to voluntarily release environmental data and map out the transfer of pollutants for the public to track.

Bie Tao, deputy director of the policy and regulation department under the Ministry of Environment Protection, welcomed the initiative in Tianjin and said it carried greater significance than before.