Ma Jun

Discover the life of Ma Jun, China’s leading environmental activist. Learn about his founding of IPE, his use of transparency and data to drive policy change, and his key quotes and legacy.

Introduction

Ma Jun (马钧), born May 22, 1968, is a Chinese environmentalist, journalist, and consultant best known for pioneering environmental transparency in China through data mapping and public disclosure of pollution. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), whose public pollution databases have pressured companies and governments toward accountability.

Often compared to Rachel Carson in China for awakening public consciousness to ecological crises, Ma Jun has leveraged the power of information, public participation, and digital tools to shift how environmental governance works in China.

Early Life and Education

Ma Jun was born on May 22, 1968, in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

In 2004 he was selected as a Yale World Fellow, which allowed him to broaden his exposure to environmental governance in other countries and to comparative approaches.

His journalism training and international exposure shaped his belief that transparency, public access to information, and civil society engagement were essential to environmental reform in China.

Journalism & Awakening to Pollution Issues

In the 1990s, Ma Jun worked at the South China Morning Post (SCMP) from 1993 to 2000, focusing on investigative reporting.

His 1999 book China’s Water Crisis (中国水危机) was among the first major works to bring public and policy attention to China’s water pollution problems. The book has been described as a foundational environmental call to arms in China.

This mixture of reporting, research, and public communication laid the groundwork for Ma’s later shift from journalist to environmental entrepreneur and advocate.

Founding IPE and the Strategy of Transparency

Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)

In 2006, Ma Jun founded the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) in Beijing.

One of IPE’s first major innovations was the China Water Pollution Map, the first public database in China linking pollution violations to specific companies and locations. air pollution map, and developed mobile and digital tools (e.g. Blue Map) to let users access real-time or near real-time emission data.

This approach is often called a “name-and-shame” strategy: by publicly listing companies that violate environmental standards, IPE creates reputational pressure and incentives for compliance. But IPE pairs exposure with pathways to remediation, encouraging companies to audit, reform, and publicly commit to emission reductions.

IPE’s data have influenced corporate supply chains: many global brands and financial institutions now consult IPE’s databases to vet suppliers and investments.

Blue Map, Carbon & Climate Tools

In later years, Ma and IPE advanced environmental transparency beyond just water and air, pushing into carbon emissions and climate accountability. For example, they launched Blue Map for Zero Carbon and built the Corporate Climate Action Transparency Index (CATI) to monitor companies’ carbon disclosure and performance.

IPE’s data systems now track millions of companies, integrate environmental performance into supply chains, and inform green lending decisions by banks.

Achievements, Awards & Recognition

• Ma Jun was named by Time magazine in 2006 among the 100 most influential people in the world.

• In 2009, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his contributions in environmental disclosure and participatory governance.

• In 2012, Ma Jun won the Goldman Environmental Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious honors for environmentalists, for promoting transparency that empowered citizens and NGOs to hold polluters to account.

• In 2015, he became the first Chinese social entrepreneur to win the Skoll Award.

• In 2021, he was selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst.

• In environmental governance circles, he is often seen as a thought leader bridging activism, data, policy, and corporate engagement.

Under his leadership, IPE has exposed tens of thousands of violations—air and water—across China.

Philosophy, Style & Influence

Ma Jun’s approach rests on a few interlocking pillars:

1. Transparency as leverage
   In a system where enforcement is weak and local protectionism is common, making environmental data public is a powerful lever. He often says that without access to information, public participation is impossible.

2. Pragmatic activism
   Rather than confrontational protest, Ma seeks to work within—and around—the system: exposing violations, offering remediation paths, and engaging governments and companies in collaborative reform.

3. Digital tools & data integration
   Ma has embraced digital mapping, apps, monitoring systems, and big data to scale transparency and accountability.

4. Linking supply chains, corporations, and governance
   He focuses not just on local pollution, but on how global supply chains connect to environmental performance—pressuring multinationals to demand compliance from their suppliers.

5. Adaptive strategy in restricted civic space
   Operating in China’s tightly regulated civic environment, Ma frames his work not as activism in the Western sense, but as building institutional tools that shift incentives and norms within Chinese governance.

He often emphasizes that China now has a “green momentum” — that public awareness, market pressures, and policy shifts make environmental reform inevitable (though deeply challenging) in China.

Selected Quotes

• “Water pollution is the most serious environmental issue facing China. It has a huge impact on people’s health and economic development.”

• “Many of the government’s efforts to curtail pollution had been offset by the number of construction projects that spit dust into the air and the surge in private car ownership.”

• “We had realised that we had no choice but to change our production model.”

• On transparency and public participation:

  “In China, environmental offenders could not be stopped through legal channels. … I opted for transparency, data, consensual solutions.”

These quotes reflect his focus on systemic reform, the limits of enforcement, and the transformative potential of information.

Lessons & Reflections

The life and work of Ma Jun offer several lessons:

• Information is power
  In contexts where direct enforcement is weak, transparency can shift governance dynamics by enabling public and market pressures.

• Activism can evolve into institution-building
  Ma’s transformation from journalist to founder of a data-driven NGO model shows how impactful change can come through building tools and infrastructure, not just protest.

• Synergy of technology and civic engagement
  Using digital tools to scale visibility means more citizens, businesses, and officials can engage.

• Global-local linkages matter
  By connecting Chinese environmental performance to global supply chains, Ma extends accountability beyond national borders.

• Persistence in constrained spaces
  Operating within China’s political system, Ma adopted a strategy that works with, not always against, existing regulatory frameworks—and over time shifted what is acceptable.

Conclusion

Ma Jun stands as one of China’s most influential environmental innovators. His vision has reshaped how pollution is publicly traced, how corporations are held accountable, and how environmental governance is conceived in China. Through IPE and digital transparency, Ma has turned environmental data into civic power. His legacy is not only in the violations exposed, but in the evolving norms of accountability, public participation, and green governance in one of the world’s largest economies.