事关公众知情权的《政府信息公开条例》及《环境信息公开办法（试行）》于2008年5月1日开始实施。公众环境研究中心（IPE）与自然资源保护委员会（NRDC）共同开发了污染源监管信息公开指数（PITI指数），据此对113个城市2008年度污染源监管信息公开状况进行了初步评价。113个城市的平均分则刚刚超过31分（满分为100分），显示环境信息公开仍处于初级水平。
Decree of Government Information Disclosure and Measures on Environmental Information Disclosure （Trial），both of which are related to public rights to know，came into effect on May 1，2008. Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs （IPE） and Natural Resources Defense Council （NRDC） jointly developed Pollution Information Transparency Index （PITI Index），and accordingly conducted a preliminary assessment of the pollution information transparency situations of 113 cities in 2008. According to the researches，the environmental information disclosure is still at the primary stage，and on average the 113 cities barely score 31 out of 100 points.
