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Companies in Beijing are questioning why the city government has added them to an environmental watch list.

PepsiCo-Beijing and Coca-Cola-Beijing are among 27 large water and energy-consuming entities included in the list. The list was issued on Tuesday by the Beijing Development and Reform Commission, the capital's economic planning agency.

The companies will be subject to monthly inspections of their environmental compliance starting at the end of the month, according to a statement on the commission's website. It did not specify how long the monitoring would last.

Commission spokesperson Ma Jing told China Daily the capital is targeting the environmental practices of large enterprises to meet the energy saving and emission reduction goals laid out in the city's 11th Five-year Plan (2006 to 2010). This year is a crucial year for fulfilling these objectives, he said.

"If these companies do a little more in cleaner production, they will contribute a lot to the capital's energy and water saving," said Ma. "This is why they are on the list."

However, companies contacted yesterday by China Daily questioned the credibility of the list, and say they have already made considerable efforts to curb their environmental impacts.

A spokesperson from Coca-Cola said the company will work with officials to further reduce its climate footprint. The company provided documents via e-mail detailing steps it has taken to reduce water consumption and pollution.

"Beijing Coca-Cola Beverage Co met wastewater effluent standards of The Coca-Cola Company and local governments, meaning that discharged water is capable of supporting aquatic life," said a company statement.

Pepsi Co issued a similar statement: "All of our Pepsi-Cola bottling facilities in China strictly adhere to the national standards set for wastewater treatment and emissions. All domestic water before being discharged from our bottling facilities goes through a rigorous treatment process to remove pollutants."

A manager surnamed Gui from Beijing Power Equipment Group (BPEG) said he believed it was groundless for the commission to list a small company like BPEG on the list.

BPEG ranks at least 10th among energy consuming companies in Beijing's Fangshan District, he said, indicating its energy needs were not enough to warrant monthly inspections.

Questions:

1. Who issued the environmental watch list?

2. What will the companies on the list be subjected to each month?

3. What small company is on the list?

Answers:

1. The Beijing Development and Reform Commission.

2. Inspections of their environmental compliance.

3. BPEG.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.