An environmentally-friendly insurance policy which offers pollution coverage is set to be hit the Chinese market thanks to ACE Group strategic partner Huatai Insurance Co. of China Ltd.

Huatai received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to become one of the first insurance companies to offer broad pollution coverage in China and has worked closely with Chinese regulatory officials to develop coverage for both first-party clean-up and third-party claims for pollution conditions associated with operations or investments in China, with limits up to $25 million.

Huatai CEO Zhao Ming Hao said: "We are very pleased to be the first local Chinese non-life company to provide this product for our clients throughout China, using our extensive branch network. We believe that there will be significant demand for this product in the future. The assistance of our strategic partner ACE has been critical in its development."

"The increase in environmental awareness in China in the past few years is enormous, as is the pace of regulatory change," said Karl Russek, senior vice-president of ACE Environmental Risk. "Multi-nationals, in particular, increasingly face scrutiny of their environmental performance in China, both from within China and from constituencies in their home countries. We view this product as an important differentiator for our multi-national clients who have assets or operations in China."