The recent smog that shrouded large parts of China has shown it is imperative that the country thoroughly assess the environmental impact of economic activities: A system to measure "green GDP" is needed.

A pilot system to evaluate the gross domestic product of the ecosystem in a northern desert, launched on Monday, is the latest attempt to measure the value of an ecosystem.

Similarly, some research teams have developed accounting systems to assess the country's net GDP output minus the environmental losses caused by economic activities.